While I understand the temptation to appropriate certain ideas or passages of writers we admire in the service of a contemporary principle--a temptation I too have found at moments difficult to resist--it is, ultimately, one that I have resisted. Claudia Rosett at Opinion Journal did not, and somehow, it's deeply vexing to me that I should have to read a sentence that says "What Faulkner had to say about the war on terror."

In fact, in his speech, he had nothing to say about this or any war on terror. Nor was the thrust of his speech aimed specifically at the Korean War, the cold war, or the fears of nuclear death that haunted the world then. What oblique reference he does make to them is but a springboard to his larger point, one that is lost in Rosett's attempt to turn Faulkner's speech into a convenient voice of authority on the necessity of remaining steadfast in the face of terror.

But don't let me tell you. Read his acceptance speech here and judge for yourself.