About Titus Techera

Titus Techera is the executive director of the American Cinema Foundation and a cultural critic. He has written essays for National Review, The Federalist, The University Bookman, and Modern Age. Mr. Techera studied liberal arts at Bard College Berlin and political science at the University of Bucharest and the Universite Libre de Bruxelles.

What Is the True Nature of Ebenezer Scrooge?

By |2023-12-18T19:37:06-06:00December 18th, 2023|Categories: Books, Charles Dickens, Christianity, Christmas, Literature, Timeless Essays|

It is insufficient to say that Ebenezer Scrooge is greedy. Scrooge believes that in his private life no one can make claims on his substance or time. He the kind of man who understands life to reduce to contracts. In September 1843, Charles Dickens started writing his little book, A Christmas Carol, one of very [...]

The All-American Magic of Ricky Jay

By |2018-12-28T21:53:27-06:00December 28th, 2018|Categories: Culture, Film, Imagination, Mystery|

Ricky Jay was born in 1948 and died last Saturday. He was the greatest magician in America for more than a generation and a character whose like we will not see again. He combined the all-American love of wonder, which he understood to fixate on European aristocracy, and the all-American passion for science. He was [...]

G.K. Chesterton’s “A Ballade of Suicide”

By |2018-10-28T21:50:37-05:00October 14th, 2018|Categories: Christian Humanism, Death, G.K. Chesterton, Literature, Poetry, Timeless Essays|

Today’s offering in our Timeless Essay series affords readers the opportunity to join Titus Techera as he reflects on the meaning of G.K. Chesterton's "A Ballade of Suicide." —W. Winston Elliott III, Publisher G.K. Chesterton published "A Ballade of Suicide" in his journal, The Eye-Witness, September 21, 1911. This is a ballade, an old French form [...]

G.K. Chesterton’s “A Ballade of Suicide”

By |2018-10-15T15:03:28-05:00March 10th, 2017|Categories: Death, G.K. Chesterton, Poetry|

Do not expect G.K. Chesterton's ballade to be any kind of love poem–he wants to something else instead, to raise your eyebrow, not to say hairs on end... G.K. Chesterton published "A Ballade of Suicide" in his journal, The Eye-Witness, September 21, 1911. This is a ballade, an old French form comprising three octets and a [...]

Rainer Maria Rilke’s “The Panther”

By |2021-07-28T12:20:25-05:00September 14th, 2016|Categories: Poetry|

Has man by his new powers made animals unwild again? Has man come back into the inheritance of the old Adam, who named the beings God brought before him? Does the panther really belong in a cage? His vision, from the constantly passing bars, has grown so weary that it cannot hold anything else. It [...]

The Law of the Jungle

By |2019-06-24T16:15:36-05:00August 26th, 2016|Categories: Poetry|

You might wonder where this phrase comes from—the law of the jungle—which we take to mean lawlessness, spelled out in a fine turn of phrase. Rudyard Kipling thought otherwise; in fact, he makes quite a lot in a book for kids about something serious. Jungle is another name for forest. It is the world in [...]

The “Miracle Year”: Was Life Never Better Than in 1963?

By |2020-05-12T22:25:29-05:00May 18th, 2016|Categories: Featured, Music, Poetry, Reason, Sexuality|Tags: , , |

It might seem like the problem of the Sexual Revolution was its promiscuity because people began to give in to desire. But it was spirit that was the problem, for while eros is a democrat, it is also a master over willing slaves. Sexual intercourse began (which was rather late for me) – Between the [...]

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