Johnson Paul. Intellectuals

New York: Harper & Row, 1992. — 399 p. — ISBN: 0-06-091657-5This fascinating portrait of the minds that have shaped the modem world is an examination of the moral and judgmental credentials of intellectuals to give advice to humanity. Who are the intellectuals? Paul Johnson sees them as a phenomenon emerging from the late eighteenth century: secular thinkers who took the place of priests, scribes and soothsayers who had guided society in previous ages. But from the time of Voltaire and Rousseau, the secular intellectual has increasingly filled the vacuum left by the decline of the cleric and assumed the functions of moral mentor and critic of mankind. How do intellectuals set about reaching their conclusions? How carefully do they examine evidence? How great is their respect for truth? How do they apply their public principles to their private lives? What is their attitude toward money? How do they treat their spouses and children— legitimate and illegitimate? How loyal are they to their friends? In an intriguing series of case studies and incisive portraits, Rousseau, Shelley, Marx, Ibsen, Tolstoy, Hemingway, Bertrand Russell, Brecht, Sartre, Edmund Wilson, Victor Gollancz, Lillian Heilman, Cyril Connolly, Norman Mailer, James Baldwin, Kenneth Tynan, Noam Chomsky and others are revealed as intellectuals both brilliant and contradictory, magnetic and dangerous.Jean-Jacques Rousseau: 'An Interesting Madman'
Shelley, or the Heartlessness of Ideas
Karl Marx: 'Howling Gigantic Curses'
Henrik Ibsen: 'On the Contrary!' 82
Tolstoy: God's Elder Brother
The Deep Waters of Ernest Hemingway
Bertolt Brecht: Heart of Ice
Bertrand Russell: A Case of Logical Fiddlesticks
Jean-Paul Sartre: 'A Little Ball of Fur and Ink'
Edmund Wilson: A Brand from the Burning
The Troubled Conscience of Victor Gollancz
Lies, Damned Lies and Lillian Heilman
The Flight of Reason