WILLIAM PHILLIPS
9
account of the cooperation of the Jewish Councils with the Nazis. But
Hannah insisted she was simply reporting what she considered to be the
truth, and she and Mary thought the Jewish community was ganging up
on her and her book. Hannah also vaguely suggested the possibility of a
conspiracy behind some of the adverse criticism of her.
The impact of these letters is large and puzzling. The enormous
swings from the highs to lows of thinking raise the question of why
Western thought is generally so full of contradictions. Why, one has to
ask, do we find so much intelligence combined with so much foolishness?
There are no easy answers. Perhaps the only answer is that this is the na–
ture of our tradition. But then one wonders whether this is not just a
tautology - like saying the minds of intellectuals shuttle between the
mountains and the valleys because they shuttle between them.
I might add that, despite my growing differences with Hannah and
Mary, I have many sympathetic memories of them. For they were, from
the beginning, though somewhat peripherally, part of what Norman
Podhoretz has called "the family."
The lengthy introduction by Carol Brightman, McCarthy's biogra–
pher, is a warm and affectionate tribute to these two strong-willed
women who became intellectual celebrities.
w.
P.
