292
PART ISAN ItEVIEW
to th e need
to
eradi ca te it at its roo ts. T hi s need fo r v igil ance overrides
the customary ri ght/ left politi cal di vide . So whereas th e maj o rity of liberal
minds turned soft o n Communi sm (a nd th en looked to vari o us forms of
soc ialism) as the antido te to fasc ism , Laqueur was o ne o f the few who
felt
compelled to go aga inst both ri ght-wing and le ft- w in g extremisms, to be
a truly independent intellectual. Laqueur menti o ns that he sometimes was
wro ng; but it is to hi s credit that he does no t gloat ove r having been cor–
rect so o ften . In evitabl y, he met nea rl y eve ry impo rtant politi cal leader,
and he w o uld becom e fri e nds with such people as R aymo nd Aron,
Geo rge Li chth eim , N ahum Go ldman , Arthur Koestl er, and Ri chard
Lowenthal.
All
o f th em were immensel y enli ghtened fi gures, and they all
have bee n vindi cated by hi sto ry. Eac h ge nerat io n , I beli eve, produ ces
o nl y a few indi viduals w ho ca n combin e obj ective resea rch with subjec–
tive insights, and wh o th en have the courage and th e stamina to stand
alone against th e " herd o f independe nt minds." Laque ur ends his memoir
by saying he had lu ck. Yes, but in additi o n he had ho nesty and ambition,
and the modesty no t to dwe ll o n the de tails of hi s li fe, but to dea l primar–
ily with his "encounters w ith hi story."
EDITH KURZWEIL
The M usic ofJames
MEANING IN HENRY JAMES. By Millicent Bell .
Harva rd Uni versity
Press. S42. 50.
HENRY JAMES AND THE PAST. By Ian Bell. St.
Martin 's Press. S45.00.
These Bells m ake different so unds. Milli cent Bel l gives us th e music of
J am es, its inte rn al logic, w hi ch in criti cism we first hea rd in Percy
Lubbock' s
Th e C rajt
oj Fictioll .
Ian Bell provides a mo re up- to-date, mar–
ket-o ri ented J ames in the serv ice of an economy of consumpti o n. Which
is no t to say that Milli cent Bell doesn ' t prov ide us with fresh analytic
p erspectives, espec ially o n the matter o f plo t, o r that Ian Bell is utterly
