Ron Dart taught in the Department of Political Science, Philosophy, and Religious Studies at the University of Fraser Valley (British Columbia) for 33 years. He has published and edited more than forty books, including Scrutinizing Scruton: Canadian High Toryism and Scrutonia; Myth and Meaning in Jordan Peterson: A Christian Perspective; Christianity and Pluralism (co-authored with J.I. Packer); Thomas Merton and the Beats of the North Cascades; and The North American High Tory Tradition. He is also an avid mountaineer.
In this interview with Ron grandly explicates – as he usually does – the following points:
-Hermann Hesse’s impact on counterculture (including misreads)
-Hesse’s connections with other intellectuals (including Martin Buber)
-The Glass Bead Game
-Hesse’s exploration of self-discovery, the balance between contemplation and action, and quiet -service to others as a form of true spirituality
-Hesse’s literary and philosophical influences (including, especially, Nietzsche and Jakob Burckhardt)
-The relevance of Hesse’s work today (including insights on what authentic living is, our tendency toward cultural thinness, and thoughts on political polarization)
Names mentioned in this interview:
C. S. Lewis, Thomas Merton, Evelyn Underhill, Bede Griffiths, George Grant, Stephen Leacock, Erasmus, Roger Scruton, Jordan Peterson, Friedrich Nietzsche, The Beats, Timothy Leary, Noam Chomsky, Dorothy L. Sayers, Jim Forrest, Gary Snyder, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Philip Whalen, Martin Heidegger, Martin Buber, Seneca, Cicero, Plato, Walt Disney, Julie Andrews, German Pietism, Augustine of Hippo, Homer, Hesiod, Jacob Burckhardt, T.S. Eliot, J.R.R. Tolkien, Oswald Spengler.
Books mentioned:
A Preface to Paradise Lost (C. S. Lewis)
The Chronicles of Narnia (C. S. Lewis)
The Great Divorce (C. S. Lewis)
The Divine Comedy (Dante Alighieri)
The Brothers Karamazov (Fyodor Dostoevsky)
Hermann Hesse: Phoenix Arising (Ron Dart)
Siddhartha (Hermann Hesse)
Steppenwolf (Hermann Hesse)
The Glass Bead Game (Hermann Hesse)
Peter Camenzind (Hermann Hesse)
Journey to the East (Hermann Hesse)
Under the Wheel (Hermann Hesse)
Demian (Hermann Hesse)
If The War Goes On (Hermann Hesse)
I and Thou (Martin Buber)
War and Peace (Leo Tolstoy)
Confessions (St. Augustine)
The Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien)