640
PARTISAN REVIEW
ano th er person alit y tha t Ru ssell could still command a t
~o
adva nced an
age. T h e la ter chapters o f Mr. Clark 's hook h aH' a n adw'ntit ious
ad\'an tage o ver those dea lin g, fo r exampl e. with
Ru ~sell ' s rel a ti on s hi p~
at Cambr idge, o r pacifi sm in "Vorld Wa r I, o r traw'ls in
Ru s~ i a
and
China, o r educa ti on a l experiments. In th em, he
i~
not Jll erel y expa nd–
ing Ru ssell 's own account but wr iting hi s own hi sto ry o f th e g rea t
man 's life a nd times. And th e qu a lit y o f hi s own style and th oug ht in
these
ch apt er~
imp roves so much that it sets on c wo ndering a bo ut the
book he could h ave g iven u s if he h ad written the carli er pa rt s with th e
same degree o f indep enden ce.
But thinkin g o ver th e book as it is I cann o t say th a t th e signifi–
cance and p erson a lit y o f Russell h ave been g rea tly cl a rifi ed fo r me by
readin g it.
It
is a comp reh en sive account o f
Ru ~~el l 's
v ie amOllfetlSe
and hi s intel lectu a l, emo ti ona l, a nd mo ra l vi ciss itudes g l'll crall y, out it
is a ll too superfi cia l. Fi gures like Witt gen stein, D.I
I.
Lawrmce, o r T.S.
Eli o t a ppear in th eir due pl ace in the sto ry with out its ('vcr bein g cl ear
wh at essenti a ll y a ttracted Ru ssell to th em. Th('J'c is no depth in the
trea tment o f th ese men either as p eople o r as minds , so tha t th ere is no
rea l understandin g o f th e reason wh y hi s stron g infa lli a ti on turn ed to
stron g d islik e, o r a t leas t es tra n gement , n o r o f wh y th ey came
to
turn
aga inst Russell. The trea tment o f these impo rta nt epi sodes is cas ua l,
even careless , o f a pi ece with Mr. Cl ark 's mi sta ken belief that there is
somethin g call ed " th e Hi gh An g li can Church " to whi ch Eli o t was
converted .
At thi s po int, however, the rev iewer's occupat ion a l in g rat itude
must be ch as ten ed by thi s tho ught : th e qua lifi ca ti o ns o f th e idea l o r
even th e adequa te bi ograph er o f Russell a re so formid a bl e th a t on e
canno t beli eve su ch a p a ragon wo uld think th e jo b worth hi s while.
Fo r he wo uld need to combin e the g ifts o f a distin gui shed log ician ,
phil osopher, noveli st, and hi sto ri an , as well as
to
possess the industri–
ousness and profess iona l skill th a t th e present biogra pher undo ubtedl y
commands. In sho rt , h e would be so wi se a nd profound a ma n th a t he
m ight do better to emul a te Ru ssell-and p erh ap s with more success –
in trying
to
set the wo rld to ri ghts.
All th e same, on e could imagin e a stud y o f Russell whi ch achi eved
mo re by sta nding back a littl e from the biogra phi ca l deta il s, colo rful
as th ese are, and refl ectin g ra th er mo re deepl y on
S0111e
general themes
th at th e stud y o f Ru ssell 's life a nd work brin gs to mind . On e o f these
mi ght be lh e contras t between th e sincere and the authenti c whi ch I
have alread y menti on ed . And h ere a writer with a more litera ry bias
th an Mr. Cl ark 's mi ght h ave something to o ffer. For Ru ssell presents a
