Cultural Amnesia: Necessary Memories from History and the ArtsEchoing Edward Said's belief that "Western humanism is not enough, we need a universal humanism," the renowned critic Clive James presents here his life's work. Containing over one hundred original essays, organized by quotations from A to Z, Cultural Amnesia illuminates, rescues, or occasionally destroys the careers of many of the greatest thinkers, humanists, musicians, artists, and philosophers of the twentieth century. In discussing, among others, Louis Armstrong, Walter Benjamin, Sigmund Freud, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Franz Kafka, Marcel Proust, and Ludwig Wittgenstein, James writes, "If the humanism that makes civilization civilized is to be preserved into the new century, it will need advocates. These advocates will need a memory, and part of that memory will need to be of an age in which they were not yet alive." Soaring to Montaigne-like heights, Cultural Amnesia is precisely the book to burnish these memories of a Western civilization that James fears is nearly lost. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 76
Page xvi
... given to live in they were inextricably mixed . Each of them , it seemed to me , could have no overt order at the best of times : its order could only be internal , complex , organic . And in the worst of times , which has become our ...
... given to live in they were inextricably mixed . Each of them , it seemed to me , could have no overt order at the best of times : its order could only be internal , complex , organic . And in the worst of times , which has become our ...
Page xviii
... given aid and comfort to totali- tarian power . I loved classical music , but so did Reinhard Heydrich and the ineffable Dr. Mengele . I loved modern fiction in all its fearless inclusiveness , but Louis - Ferdinand Céline , the author ...
... given aid and comfort to totali- tarian power . I loved classical music , but so did Reinhard Heydrich and the ineffable Dr. Mengele . I loved modern fiction in all its fearless inclusiveness , but Louis - Ferdinand Céline , the author ...
Page xxi
... given us a permanent present , but has given it the furniture of eternity . We can cocoon ourselves , if we wish , in a new provincialism more powerful than any of the past empires . English is this new world's lingua franca , not ...
... given us a permanent present , but has given it the furniture of eternity . We can cocoon ourselves , if we wish , in a new provincialism more powerful than any of the past empires . English is this new world's lingua franca , not ...
Page xxix
... given where a scholar might wish to check my interpretation . Otherwise , in the inter- ests of readability , such notations have been kept to a minimum . Qual- ified linguists will quickly detect that I command only smatterings in any ...
... given where a scholar might wish to check my interpretation . Otherwise , in the inter- ests of readability , such notations have been kept to a minimum . Qual- ified linguists will quickly detect that I command only smatterings in any ...
Page 13
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Contents
VII | 11 |
IX | 16 |
XI | 23 |
XII | 31 |
XIII | 45 |
XIV | 47 |
XV | 57 |
XVI | 63 |
LXXVI | 432 |
LXXVII | 441 |
LXXVIII | 455 |
LXXIX | 460 |
LXXX | 470 |
LXXXI | 481 |
LXXXII | 485 |
LXXXIII | 492 |
XVII | 72 |
XVIII | 77 |
XIX | 85 |
XX | 87 |
XXI | 94 |
XXII | 101 |
XXIII | 106 |
XXIV | 110 |
XXV | 115 |
XXVI | 119 |
XXVII | 122 |
XXVIII | 128 |
XXIX | 133 |
XXX | 145 |
XXXI | 148 |
XXXII | 154 |
XXXIII | 161 |
XXXIV | 163 |
XXXV | 169 |
XXXVI | 175 |
XXXVII | 181 |
XXXVIII | 183 |
XXXIX | 188 |
XL | 199 |
XLI | 201 |
XLII | 205 |
XLIII | 209 |
XLIV | 220 |
XLV | 224 |
XLVI | 230 |
XLVII | 250 |
XLVIII | 255 |
XLIX | 257 |
L | 261 |
LI | 271 |
LII | 280 |
LIII | 289 |
LIV | 297 |
LV | 299 |
LVI | 305 |
LVII | 311 |
LVIII | 321 |
LIX | 328 |
LX | 335 |
LXI | 337 |
LXII | 341 |
LXIII | 343 |
LXIV | 348 |
LXV | 353 |
LXVI | 359 |
LXVII | 364 |
LXVIII | 368 |
LXIX | 377 |
LXX | 379 |
LXXI | 407 |
LXXII | 409 |
LXXIII | 414 |
LXXIV | 420 |
LXXV | 428 |
LXXXIV | 501 |
LXXXV | 515 |
LXXXVI | 524 |
LXXXVII | 533 |
LXXXVIII | 535 |
LXXXIX | 543 |
XC | 545 |
XCI | 555 |
XCII | 557 |
XCIII | 562 |
XCIV | 571 |
XCV | 574 |
XCVI | 578 |
XCVII | 583 |
XCVIII | 585 |
XCIX | 589 |
C | 591 |
CI | 600 |
CII | 607 |
CIII | 612 |
CIV | 625 |
CV | 637 |
CVI | 639 |
CVII | 650 |
CVIII | 658 |
CIX | 664 |
CX | 669 |
CXI | 680 |
CXII | 684 |
CXIII | 706 |
CXIV | 715 |
CXV | 719 |
CXVI | 727 |
CXVII | 729 |
CXVIII | 735 |
CXIX | 742 |
CXX | 747 |
CXXI | 759 |
CXXII | 761 |
CXXIII | 766 |
CXXIV | 773 |
CXXV | 781 |
CXXVI | 783 |
CXXVII | 790 |
CXXVIII | 795 |
CXXIX | 797 |
CXXX | 801 |
CXXXI | 809 |
CXXXII | 811 |
CXXXIII | 823 |
CXXXIV | 825 |
CXXXV | 829 |
CXXXVI | 833 |
CXXXVII | 845 |
CXXXVIII | 847 |
CXXXIX | 853 |
857 | |
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Cultural Amnesia: Necessary Memories from History and the Arts Clive James No preview available - 2007 |
Common terms and phrases
admirers Alfred Polgar already American Aron artist beautiful believe better café called career civilization Communist creative critic culture death Egon Friedell English Ernesto Sabato Ernst Jünger essay everything exile famous film French German gift Goebbels Golo Golo Mann Gombrowicz happened hard Hitler human idea intellectual jazz Jean-François Revel Jews knew language later less liberal literary lived look Marcel Reich-Ranicki mental mind modern Montesquieu movie Nazis never novel philosopher play poem poet poetry Polgar political probably prose Proust Raymond Aron reader reason remember Revel Rilke Sartre Schnitzler sense sentence Shakespeare Sophie Scholl sound Soviet Union Stalin Stefan Zweig story student style Tacitus talent talk tango tell thing Thomas Mann thought tion took true truth twentieth century Vienna wanted whole Witold Gombrowicz word write written wrote young Zweig