Irving Babbitt
An Intellectual Study
By Thomas R. Nevin
205 pp., 6 x 9
-
Paperback ISBN: 978-0-8078-3629-3
Published: June 2012 -
E-book EPUB ISBN: 978-0-8078-3630-9
Published: August 2018 -
E-book PDF ISBN: 979-8-8908-7231-9
Published: August 2018
Buy this Book
- Paperback $50.00
- E-Book $29.99
Awards & distinctions
1985 Alpha Sigma Nu Book Award
Nevin argues that the tradition Babbit represented did not so much uphold class mores as it urged that literature embody and inculcate discipline. In this book-length study of Babbitt's humanism, Nevin examines the controversial critic's attacks on collegiate educational reform, his literary and aesthetic criticism, his political philosophy of an "aristocratic democracy" and his fusion of humanism with Buddhism. Included in each chapter are substantial portions of Babbitt's unpublished correspondence with Paul Elmer More, letters that eloquently reveal points of agreement and difference between Babbitt's humanism and the theism that More came to espouse.
Although this study reflects the variety of Babbitt's concerns, it concentrates on his major ideas: the need to maintain the dualism that is the legacy of the Western philosophical tradition, the imperative that critically sound standards of judgment be maintained in the individual and in society, and the affirmation of the human will against the reductive forces of materialistic ideologies. Humanism, as Babbitt defines it, opposes the ascendance of utilitarian science because the sciences, however legitimate in the area of phenomenal inquiry, as a secular faith supplant the traditional strength and appeal of cultural and religious standards. Literature itself under the influence of naturalism either reflects a mechanized, demoralized society or merely escapes aesthetically from its ugliness.
With the reprinting of some of Babbitt's writings, scholars may now reassess his thought. Irving Babbitt should renew interest in a major American thinker and vindicate many of his arguments that apply to the problems of our own day.
Originally published in 1984.
A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.
About the Author
Thomas R. Nevin is author of Simone Weil: Portrait of a Self-Exiled Jew.
For more information about Thomas R. Nevin, visit
the
Author
Page.
Reviews
"Nevin's study is a lucidly written exegesis of Babbitt's major ideas, their sources, their political meaning, and, of course, their religious connotations. . . . This book, furthermore, exhaustively researched, is the first full-length study of Babbitt and his thought and employs the Cambridge antiromantic's lecture notes as well as his illuminating correspondence with Paul Elmer More."--Choice
"A unique, long awaited book. . . . Should give the formidable thinker Babbitt his rightful position among our American saints and sages."--Austin Warren, University of Michigan