PARTISAN REVIEW
11
preme quality of intelligence, that instantaneous ability to cut through the
nonsense surrounding most ideas and situations and
to
see them in a fresh
way. Occasionally, this led to quirkiness or one-sidedness, as those with
more positivist or Marxist leanings have been quick to point out .But this is
the price one often has to pay for originality . And it seems to me ungenerous
to
emphasize whatever shortcomings she might have had at a time when so
few figures come near the range and depth of her thinking.
In her personal habits, Hannah could be described as old-fashioned,
without any of those affectations of style cultivated these days by successful
intellectuals . Even her apartment looked quaintly European, like that of
someone who had not acquired the new American ways of living . She lived
quietly and modestly, and did not go in for flashy and fashionable forms of
experience or amusement . She even believed in friendship and loyalty–
loyalty to a community as well as to people . The last time I saw Hannah was
at Lionel's funeral services . She did not say much, but her hurt and resigned
look was a comment on the sadness of the occasion .
One can only hope that as a generation goes, its values will not also go.
w.p.
