366
PARTISAN REVIEW
vative side is automatically immoral and untrue.
One important question that Judt does not go into is the contradic–
tory nature of Western intellectuals in Western history. For if the leading
French intellectuals betrayed their calling, as many intellectuals have done
in the past, what can we say about the general significance of intellectu–
als? Have they ever been independent thinkers, as defined, for example, by
Arthur Koestler? Perhaps the contradictory role of the intellectuals is
explained by their dual nature: that of priest and clown , wise man and
fool. Thus they have always been the bearers of the ideas and values of
our civilization, while they also have reflected the baser currents of their
time. This would explain, perhaps, why anti-Semitism, racism, colonial–
ism, and apologetics for slavery have existed at the highest levels of intel–
lectual life. Thus the French intellectuals Judt describes were not only
Stalinist stooges but at the same time at the top of their professions.
Some people are able to judge the dismal political role they played. But
who is to judge the judges in this continuous process in which intellec–
tuals criticize the mistakes of their contemporaries and predecessors?
('A
persuasive case, free from ideological
cant. }}-Kirkus Reviews
Peter Shaw's
Recovering American
Literature
considers the treatment meted out to the great
classics ofAmerican literature-by Hawthorne,
Recovering
American
Literature
Melville, Mark Twain, and Henry James-and shows convincingly
how they have been systematically raided by academic critics in the service
of political correctness, and virtually robbed of their deepest meaning.
"This book demonstrates that it is possible to read literature and be highly
conscious of the political without descending into the merely ideological."
Just pttblished in hardcover, $22
-DINESH D'SOUZA
~
Ivan R.Dee,
Publisher
1332 North Halsted Street. Chicago 60622
w.
P.
At
your
bookseller. or order toll free 1-800-634-0226 with a major credit card.
