Paul Johnson, who was born in 1928, has written over forty books and is one of Britain's leading historians. A former editor of the New Statesman, he is a frequent contributor to newspapers throughout the world. His book Modern Times has been translated into thirty languages; Intellectuals has been translated into twenty languages. His History of Christianity and History of the Jews are standard works in five continents. His other books include The Offshore Islanders, The Birth of the Modern: World Society 1815-1830 and A History of the American People. He lives in London and Somerset.
Veteran political commentator, scholar and former editor of The New Statesman Paul Johnson has collected all the nasty, cruel and disgusting episodes in the lives of the mighty dead in order to question their "moral and judgmental credentials to give advice to humanity on how to conduct its affairs."
Intellectuals, according to Johnson, often possess a defining set of characteristic traits; they are lying, cheating, hypocritical, megalomaniacs who combine an abstract love of humanity with an exploitative, selfish and cruel treatment of those who were closest to them. Rousseau, Shelley, Marx, Ibsen, Tolstoy, Hemingway, Bertrand Russell, Brecht, Sartre, Lillian Hellman, Norman Mailer and Kenneth Tynan are put under the spotlight and damned as moral exemplars and truth-tellers while Edmund Wilson, Evelyn Waugh and Orwell provide the necessary foil of intellectual integrity.
This is a voyeuristic, gossip-mongering, ruthless and completely compelling book that leaves a bad taste in the mouth if you consume it at one sitting. Fortunately--since it's a collection of short biographical essays or exposès one can dip in where one likes. Intellectuals is well researched and has the polished concision one might expect from a veteran journalist and scholar. It also has the advantage of dealing with subject matter that is fascinating in itself--the extravagant personalities and spectacular immoralities of some of our most revered figures. Intellectuals doesn't always work as dispassionate intellectual history--for instance the overview of intellectual trends since the 1960s in the final chapter "The Flight of Reason" seems forced--but as a set of exposès it is splendid. --Larry Brown
从十七世纪开始,知识分子逐渐脱离对权贵的依附,成为一个新兴的独立阶层。几百年来,对于知识分子的崇拜与质疑从未间断。知识分子一方面作为人类前进的导师,具有任何阶层都不具备的持久而深远的国家影响力乃至世界影响力。他们一面继承“帝王师”的角色,引领社会与历史发展...
評分看完了保罗.约翰逊的《知识分子》。 这是一本专揭知识分子尤其是大知识分子短的书。作者详尽地展示和评说了卢梭、雪莱、易卜生、托尔斯泰、海明威、布莱希特、罗素、萨特、埃德蒙·威尔逊、维克多·高兰茨、莉莲·海尔曼等十多位人文知识分子不为常人所知的私生活。以往,这些...
評分“你连自己的家人都不爱,又怎么可能爱其他人?” 我们常常听到这样义正辞严而又雄辩有里的句子,在网络上与人舌战,这是常用的伎俩。 其实,细细想来,这样的逻辑,经不起推敲。 这是一本颠覆性质的书,说好听一点是“解构”,说不好听就是“扒粪”。 我当然相信书中关于那些...
評分保罗·约翰逊以近乎八卦的方式,更多的是通过对私生活的描写,对历史上的一些大师进行了褒贬(当然主要是贬斥和批判)。让我们来看看这个大师的名单:卢梭、雪莱、列夫·托尔斯泰、萨特、威尔逊、高兰茨、海明威……每个人都有专门一章,捎带着被品评的,还有拜伦、狄德罗等。 ...
公知都不是好東西
评分Intellect is the hamartia of men.
评分一言以蔽之,文人=jerk。本書詳細地扒瞭很多人的皮,其實在我看來沒多少意思,因為我從來也不怎麼買這些人的帳。
评分Intellect is the hamartia of men.
评分Intellect is the hamartia of men.
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