Author of MODERN TIMES and A HISTORY OF THE JEWS
Conservative historian Paul Johnson wears his ideology proudly on his sleeve in this often ruthless dissection of the thinkers and artists who (in his view) have shaped modern Western culture, having replaced some 200 years ago "the old clerisy as the guides and mentors of mankind." Taking on the likes of Karl Marx, Bertrand Russell, Lillian Hellman, and Noam Chomsky in turn, Johnson examines one idol after another and finds them all to have feet of clay. In his account, for instance, Ernest Hemingway emerges as an artistic hero who labored endlessly to forge a literary style unmistakably his own, but also as a deeply flawed man whose concern for the perfect phrase did not carry over to a concern for the women who loved him. Gossipy and sharply opinionated, Johnson's essay in cultural history spares no one.
Does it really matter that Henrik Ibsen was vain and arrogant, that Jean-Paul Sartre was incontinent? In Johnson's view, it does: these all-too-human foibles disqualify them, and other thinkers, from presuming to criticize the shortcomings of society. "Beware intellectuals," he concludes (though, given the subjects of his book, it seems he means intellectuals only of the left). "Not only should they be kept well away from the levers of power, they should also be objects of particular suspicion when they seek to offer collective advice." Whether one agrees or not, Johnson's profiles are frequently amusing and illuminating, as when he suggests that the only proletarian Karl Marx ever knew in person was the poor maid who worked for him for decades and was never paid, except in room and board, for her labors.
發表於2024-09-19
Intellectuals 2024 pdf epub mobi 電子書 下載
上個月本人一篇《我們為什麼要批評政府》的文章一經貼齣,很快引來瞭不少的關注和爭論,其中關於魯迅的話題也是備受大傢熱議的焦點之一。 因此我覺得,今天有必要將魯迅的話題深入一下,以便再次供大傢討論和參考。 (一) 在提及魯迅之前,我們不妨先來看一部在...
評分剛讀畢《知識分子》(保羅·約翰遜著),國內發行本缺關於馬剋思的那一章,網上有譯文。 作者認為知識分子應為本世紀那些造成巨大社會災難的計劃負責,作者對一些著名知識分子追名逐利、言行不一進行瞭揭露(從學術看很難進行事實反駁),這是本書的價值之一。但是作者選取的十...
評分這本書其實就是曆史學傢寫的八卦野史,但其震撼人心之處在於主角都是我們常以為“偉光正”的著名知識分子。保羅約翰遜為我們揭示瞭這些整日高喊“正義”,“道德”,“博愛”的知識名流,其實個人品質並不高尚:盧梭忘恩負義,雪萊不守信用,托爾斯泰專斷殘暴,羅素喜歡鬍說八...
評分看完瞭保羅.約翰遜的《知識分子》。 這是一本專揭知識分子尤其是大知識分子短的書。作者詳盡地展示和評說瞭盧梭、雪萊、易蔔生、托爾斯泰、海明威、布萊希特、羅素、薩特、埃德濛·威爾遜、維剋多·高蘭茨、莉蓮·海爾曼等十多位人文知識分子不為常人所知的私生活。以往,這些...
圖書標籤: 曆史 傳記 知識分子 英語 迴憶錄/傳記 essay Paul_Johnson
痛罵左派,階級立場鮮明。
評分以記者的筆法寫偉人八卦 有趣 有料 也有偏見
評分以記者的筆法寫偉人八卦 有趣 有料 也有偏見
評分關於馬剋思那篇中文版刪除。
評分以記者的筆法寫偉人八卦 有趣 有料 也有偏見
Intellectuals 2024 pdf epub mobi 電子書 下載