BOOKS
637
writin g-s and incl udes. as they do. man y of the an ecdo tes Russell p ut
in to currency in hi s la ter yea rs. Fo r readers whose interes t li es in
Ru sse ll 's th oug ht thi s approach h as a grave di sadvantage. They a re
o lll y a ll owed to see Russell 's p ro bl ems a t the crucial period , th e
beg- in ning of th is cent ury, thro ug-h th e eyes of the later Russell of the
Autobiography
a nd
My Phi losop h ica l Development.
But thi s could
no t have been o th erwise, sin ce Mr. Clark is not himself a phil osopher
or independent thinker but a professio na l biog-rapher who h as already
wr itten ex ten sive ly on th e li ves of fa mou s men of scien ce, including
Ein stein , T iza rd, and]. B.S. Ha ldan e. And altho ug-h Mr. Clark does
wh a t he can to expla in Russell 's wo rk in ma thema ti cs, log-ic, and
g-enera l p hil osoph y to th e lay reader, h e does no t and cann o t compete
w ith writ ers li ke A.]. Ayer o r Dav id Pea rs as an expon ent of Ru ssell's
thOLlg-h t.
Clark 's purpose seems to be
to
g-ive as full an account as poss ibl e of
th e pr iva te life o f a famo us and no tor iou s publi c fi g-ure who lived fo r
near ly a centu ry and in va ri ou s ways imp in g-ed on mos t o f th e
celebriti es and majo r hi stori ca l events of hi s time. T h e n ew ma teri a l
Mr. Cl ark h as been a bl e to use, ta ken from the vast Russell archi ves a t
McMas ter Uni vers it y in Ontari o, does no t substanti a ll y a lter the self–
portra it Russell w ish ed to leave to posterity.
It
is very much in line
wit h the account of him, wriuen from the po int of view of a sympa–
thetic adm irer , in Ala n Wood's excell ent if brief study,
Bertrand
R u.sse ll: th e Passionate Sceptic.
Wh a t it does add is much full er
docu menta ti on of Russell 's rela ti on s with women. The biogra ph er h as
drawn h eavil y on Russe ll' s copiou s corres ponden ce with Lady Ouo–
line Mo rrell , tog-ether w ith hi s priva te journa l dealing with the
co ll apse o f hi s first marriage, a nd a long unp ubli sh ed manuscript
wr iuen by Lady Con stan ce Ma ll eson . Certa inl y an yon e who wants to
know more a bout Ru sse ll 's wi ves and mi stresses will find hi s w ish es
amply g ratifi ed. Bu t given tha t much of the book has onl y thi s kind of
interes t, and gi ven the necessaril y perfuncto ry and externa l ch aracter of
Mr. Cla rk's dea lings with a p hil osopher who has been ca ll ed the
g-rea test logicia n sin ce Ari stotl e, wh at interest h as it for the serio u s
reader? It is temp tin g to say, no t very much .
But to say onl y tha t would be unjust. This book is no t a h ac k
producti on.
It
is obviou sly the result of much la bor, based on careful
research . It is scru p ul ou sly documented , and man y of Russell 's fanta–
sized accounts o f people and events a re corrected. T h e bibliography is
g-ood and the index admi rabl e. Some rev iewers h ave comp lained of th e
style, and I must adm it th a t I fou nd it sometimes di sagreeable,
