The West in a Nutshell

The early years of this decade were,  in retrospect,  a journalistic golden age for Australia.  In the grey pages of the  Financial  Review ,  through a strange chain of circumstances,  something new began appearing:  new writing  -  a set of linked articles: appreciations,  literary observations,  cultural contentions.  Each was distinct, in topic and in argument, yet they were of a piece; they formed a single extended chain of conversation with the reader. They are collected in the pages of this book:  they build into something more than the sum of their parts.

Paul  Monk is that rarest of things in the  Australian landscape: an  independent  thinker,  a  man free from institutional or media industry affiliations. He  has  always  been  something  of  a prodigy,  in the breadth and sweep of his coverage,  in his analytic powers,  in  his  willingness  to  explore  the ideas  around  him right  to  their bitter depths. The temper  of  his  mind  is  on  view  here:  it  is  engaged  and  inquiring,  he is convinced the world's mystery  must  be  subjected  to  constant  scrutinizing  study  -  and yet that mystery and beauty remain with  him  at  the  end,  neither  reduced nor subjected to the vulgar schemas of intellectual fashion.  Monk's  essays  range from geopolitical overviews to fine-grained textual readings of  the  classics;  he  elucidates the  Biblical roots of  Leonard  Cohen's songs and the  strategic lessons  left  by  the  Greek historians. The  range  is  one thing:  but  the  interconnection  of  the  various  components is  the key.  Here  is a  thinker  with  a  coherent  world-view,  based  in  the deep  well-springs of Western civilisation,  yet profoundly engaged with  Asian societies:  an  Australian perspective.  

In this country's fragmented,  archipelagic cultural landscape,  where portentous  academic pontiffs  and  popular  pamphleteers  hold  court,  Monk  stands out  as a  writer  passionately  committed  to  a  single,  unwavering  cause  -  enlightenment and  truth. He  believes we  can  think  our  way  through  the  maze,  and  thought  can  be  aligned with  moral  judgment.  One  page  of  his  writing  on  the  vexed  questions  of contemporary  politics  is  worth  a  book  by  most  other  commentators.  But  these essays  are  not  just  dry,  worthy,  exercises  of  the  mind.  They  are  the  work  of  flesh  and blood,  they  have  the  strangeness  of  an  individual's  take  on  life,  an  outsider's  take. If  Monk were  a  priest,  he  would  be  a  Franciscan,  not a  Jesuit:  he  regards  the  world  as a thing  of  beauty,  and  of  fine  inter-relations,  nets  of  subtlety  to  be  teased  out.  There are many delights in  The  West  in  a  Nutshell ,  but  the book  itself  is  its  own  best ambassador:  elegant,  dusted  with  a  hint  of  presentational eccentricity,  lovely to  hold -  in  both look  and content  a source  of enlightenment. 

- Nicolas  Rothwell, July  2009.