Veteran political commentator, scholar and former editor of The New Statesman Paul Johnson has collected all the nasty, cruel and disgusting episodes in the lives of the mighty dead in order to question their "moral and judgmental credentials to give advice to humanity on how to conduct its affairs."
Intellectuals, according to Johnson, often possess a defining set of character...
Veteran political commentator, scholar and former editor of The New Statesman Paul Johnson has collected all the nasty, cruel and disgusting episodes in the lives of the mighty dead in order to question their "moral and judgmental credentials to give advice to humanity on how to conduct its affairs."
Intellectuals, according to Johnson, often possess a defining set of characteristic traits; they are lying, cheating, hypocritical, megalomaniacs who combine an abstract love of humanity with an exploitative, selfish and cruel treatment of those who were closest to them. Rousseau, Shelley, Marx, Ibsen, Tolstoy, Hemingway, Bertrand Russell, Brecht, Sartre, Lillian Hellman, Norman Mailer and Kenneth Tynan are put under the spotlight and damned as moral exemplars and truth-tellers while Edmund Wilson, Evelyn Waugh and Orwell provide the necessary foil of intellectual integrity.
This is a voyeuristic, gossip-mongering, ruthless and completely compelling book that leaves a bad taste in the mouth if you consume it at one sitting. Fortunately--since it's a collection of short biographical essays or exposès one can dip in where one likes. Intellectuals is well researched and has the polished concision one might expect from a veteran journalist and scholar. It also has the advantage of dealing with subject matter that is fascinating in itself--the extravagant personalities and spectacular immoralities of some of our most revered figures. Intellectuals doesn't always work as dispassionate intellectual history--for instance the overview of intellectual trends since the 1960s in the final chapter "The Flight of Reason" seems forced--but as a set of exposès it is splendid. --Larry Brown
Paul Johnson, who was born in 1928, has written over forty books and is one of Britain's leading historians. A former editor of the New Statesman, he is a frequent contributor to newspapers throughout the world. His book Modern Times has been translated into thirty languages; Intellectuals has been translated into twenty languages. His History of Christianity and History of the...
Paul Johnson, who was born in 1928, has written over forty books and is one of Britain's leading historians. A former editor of the New Statesman, he is a frequent contributor to newspapers throughout the world. His book Modern Times has been translated into thirty languages; Intellectuals has been translated into twenty languages. His History of Christianity and History of the Jews are standard works in five continents. His other books include The Offshore Islanders, The Birth of the Modern: World Society 1815-1830 and A History of the American People. He lives in London and Somerset.
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保罗·约翰逊 作者
Lotus & Lennon
新华出版社2021版
mango
江苏人民出版社2003版
2 有用 Saaaalomé 2012-01-19 23:37:48
一言以蔽之，文人=jerk。本书详细地扒了很多人的皮，其实在我看来没多少意思，因为我从来也不怎么买这些人的帐。
0 有用 moviejunkie 2011-08-29 16:38:09
公知都不是好东西
1 有用 veeltalige 2010-02-05 16:40:25
八卦大集……
1 有用 龙翔 2010-01-13 06:47:31
A good book! I like all those intellectuals better after knowing how normal they are.