/lit/ - Literature

>>7871068
Hobbes - Leviathan
Montesquieu - The Spirit of the Laws
Herder - Yet Another Philosophy of History (should be read in light of Kant's 'Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan Purpose)
Burke - Reflections on the Revolution in France
Hegel - Philosophy of Right
Nietzsche - On the Genealogy of Morals
Schmitt - Political Theology, The Crisis of Parliamentary Democracy, and The Concept of the Political
Oakeshott - Rationalism in Politics and other essays, and On Human Conduct
Hayek - Law, Legislation, and Liberty
Finnis - Natural Law and Natural Rights

Edmund Burke and Michael Oakeshott are the two great conservative authors. It is in them that conservatism finds its true identity as a kind of sentimental nomocratic classical liberalism, based on a supreme scepticism about human projects and a great fondness of the untidy but ultimately effective institutions and customs we were blessed enough to inherit.

In Burke the hatred of theory is a central part of the DNA of the text, embedded into it by its basic structure as polemic rather than treatise. In Oakeshott, philosophy is more fully elaborated but always with a wise awareness of the central paradox.

The next tier would include Schmitt and Hayek, who deviate in authoritatian and liberal directions respectively and are both too interested in theory. Both are also absolutely essential thinkers though (Schmitt in particular).

What are the great conservative works of /lit/erature, anons?

My favourite work of polemic would have to be Oakeshott's collection Rationalism in Politics and my favourite conservative novel would have to be Thackeray's Vanity Fair.