[lit-ideas] Re: Clive Bell's Civilization
- From: david ritchie <profdritchie@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 31 May 2021 08:43:29 -0700
On May 31, 2021, at 6:52 AM, epostboxx@xxxxxxxx wrote:
On 31. May 2021, at 07:10, Lawrence Helm <lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
At one time [Lee Griffith] showed me and let me read his prized copy of
Civilization. I recall being impressed. ... However, several years later
I acquired a copy of my own and wasn't nearly as impressed. Nor could I
recaptured the feeling I had when I first read it. I did recall that Lee
and I used to drink a lot of beer together; so maybe that was a requirement.
I heard someone yesterday on the radio commenting on how members of a certain
(Middle-Eastern?) culture judged the greatness of an idea. One must consider
an idea once while sober and a second time while inebriated. Only if the idea
is considered 'great' under BOTH conditions is it to be judged so.
We drank a lot of beer at Sussex, back in the day, and I took a course about
literature of the inter-war years. Why then, if it is such a great work, did
not someone press “Civilisation” into my hands and suggest I read it? I do
recall it being on lists.
The answer may be found in Wikipedia’s entry on Bell. Sussex was a very lefty
place. Here’s what a historian of Bloomsbury says about Clive, "Bell may,
indeed, be the least liked member of Bloomsbury.... Bell has been found wanting
by biographers and critics of the Group – as a husband, a father, and
especially a brother-in-law. It is undeniable that he was a wealthy snob,
hedonist, and womaniser, a racist and an anti-Semite (but not a homophobe), who
changed from a liberal socialist and pacifist into a reactionary appeaser.
Bell's reputation has led to his being underestimated in the history of
Bloomsbury…."
Now I wonder how many others failed an undefined lefty test, if indeed there
was one.
David Ritchie,
spinning theories like webs,
while on the web in,
P.O.
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