Comment
HANNAH AND MARY
The correspondence of Hannah Arendt and Mary
McCarthy, during their long intellectual and personal friendship, is a
mixed bag - full of contradictions and inconsistences. Both were
formidable women, but the letters also reveal their softer sides. They have
their high moments and their low ones; sometimes they are extremely
perceptive, sometimes they are blind. Sometimes they are shrewd, some–
times unseeing, especially about people; sometimes exhibiting mature
feelings, sometimes gushy.
There is also something strange in the girlish romanti c tone of these
letters by the two heavyweights - like a romantic love affa ir between
two kids. There are countless exclamations of "dearest," "dear, [ love
you," "[ miss you, I wish I could see you and talk to you." Also odd are
the frequent rambling perorations about lofty psychological and human
questions that frankly sound amateurish, particularly coming from a
highly trained student of philosophy like Hannah Arendt. Maybe it is
more excusable in McCarthy, who speculates in a manner one can relate
to the free-wheeling associations of a literary mind.
On the positive side are the many sharp observations of people, even
of people they liked. They were quite soft on those who were part of
their closed circle, like Dwight Macdonald and Nicola Chiaromonte,
but they were not totally uncritical of them. Also on the positive side
are their literary and intellectual judgments, except - and this, I suppose,
is normal - where they are weighted for and against by personal likes
and biases.
The letters contain in addition criticisms and co rrections of each
other's writing. Mary points out Hannah's mistakes. Hannah comments
on Mary's work. Whatever the occasional criticisms, they are always
admiring of each other. There are also long accounts of personal doings
and affairs. Mary's divorce from Bowden Broadwater and James West's
divorce from his wife take up many pages in blow-by-blow narratives.
And Hannah's daily activities take up much space. There is endless talk of
health, illness, and travel arrangements.
On the questionable side are their politics, which are more wildly
left and anti-anticommunist than I recall. Both of them were opposed
to
Vietnam, as were many people . But Hannah and Mary were opposed on
moral and political grounds. Mary went so far as to favor a Communist
Editor's Note:
BetUleeri Friends: The Corresporldence of Hal/nah Arendt and Mary
McCarthy,
1949-1975, edited and with an Introduction by Carol Brightman, has
been published by Harcourt Brace
&
Co.
