The Guilty Pleasures of a Professor
They say that there is no water melon like stolen water melon. That, however, is one guilty pleasure that I have never tasted. I do have my indulgences, nonetheless. What I enjoy most is reading something that I do not have to read – something that I really should not read, at least not now. Give the task to me as an assignment, and I will drag my heels. Disguise the same endeavor as a lollipop or a chocolate truffle, and I will wolf it down. If I had no assignment barbed with a deadline, I might not savor such reading with so great an appreciation. It is when duty calls that temptation is the most beguiling. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence!. There is no fruit as delicious as forbidden fruit! Just ask Adam and Eve.
Yesterday – in the nick of time, as I was about to tackle the battle of Salamis (my self-assigned task), a chocolate truffle arrived. This morning the publisher offered me a free copy (my weaknesses are well known), but he was too late. I had the delicacy in my hot little hand, and I was already nibbling away at the edges. The title of the volume is The Kingdom Suffereth Violence: The Machiavelli/Erasmus/More Correspondence and Other Unpublished Documents. The editor, if that is the right word, is Philippe Bénéton, Professor of Law and Political Science at the Université de Rennes in France and author of Equality by Default: An Essay on Modernity as Confinement and of Introduction à la politique moderne.
As it happens, I know the man. We first met, if I remember correctly at a Liberty Fund Conference in Charleston, South Carolina. We discussed the writings of those Americans who were present in Paris during the French Revolution (a fascinating subject), and we dined with great delight on the local cuisine (which is a wonder). I very much regret that our paths have not crossed more frequently since that time.
As you can probably guess from the titles of his previous books, Philippe is an exceedingly thoughtful and erudite man, who has pondered in some depth the present predicament, and I really do recommend the first of his two books. The second is of great value as well, but I will spare you its praises, for most of you do not read French.
Philippe’s most recent book is, however, another matter. It is positively sinful. It appeals to one’s worst – or are they one’s best? – inclinations. It is a fraud perpetrated with a not entirely straight face. Or, rather, it is what the French call a jeu d’esprit. It is a product of the mind at play.
You see, Thomas More and Erasmus were closely acquainted. They lived with one another for some months, and they did correspond. As its Greek title -- Morias Enkomion – makes clear, Erasmus’s most famous book, In Praise of Folly, was pitched as an encomium to his friend (whose name means fool in Greek). As far as we know, however, there was no correspondence between Niccolò Machiavelli and the other two. It is true that Erasmus and Machiavelli were in Florence on at least one occasion at the same time, and I have a former student who is persuaded that they must have been acquainted – which is plausible but lacks proof. The world of the Renaissance humanists was a small world. But the letters printed in Philippe’s book are, for the most part, epistles of his own invention.
Here is the task he set for himself – to juxtapose the author of The Prince (ca. 1513-16) with the authors of Utopia (1516) and In Praise of Folly (1511) by writing for them the letters that they would have written to one another had there been such a correspondence. To do this skillfully requires on the author’s part a deep knowledge of these three works and a penetrating understanding of the character of each of these men – which, if what little I have read thus far is any indication, is precisely what Philippe possesses. It takes audacity to write such a book. To do it well requires remarkable perspicacity. But, if done well, it would be of lasting value.
But don’t go out and buy it. Restrain yourself. Do as I say, not as I am doing. Think like a Stoic. Self-indulgence is bad for your work. Leave that vice to me. It is mine. Mine, I say, mine.
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May '10
Re: The Guilty Pleasures of a Professor
When I have nothing to do, I can't find anything I want to read. When I have a definite task in front of me, all I can think about is the books I would read if I only had a few minutes to myself...
Nov '10
Re: The Guilty Pleasures of a Professor
You're not just hurting yourself, Professor. I've been waiting for your book since July!
Herodotus and his shade...
Nov '11
Re: The Guilty Pleasures of a Professor
Paul A. Rahe
. . . writing for them the letters that they would have written to one another had there been such a correspondence. . . . It takes audacity to write such a book.
It is wondrously audacious to put words into the mouths of three great thinkers!
Plato, somewhere, makes his Socrates say that he (Socrates) never wrote anything down because others inevitably would misuse his writings for purposes he never intended after he was no longer around to stop them.
Even I cannot miss the delicious irony (heaped upon irony) of Plato shoving words into the dead Socrates' mouth to make Socrates tell us why Socrates chose not to write.
Obviously seeing the danger, Plato protected his own ideas from misuse and abuse by never writing anything serious and/or never saying what he really meant and/or never saying anything in his own voice.
Niccolo surpassed Plato by writing in a way that no matter how anyone attempted to twist his writing, the attempt would always serve Niccolo's purpose. That's why we can say that Niccolo not only wrote The Prince, but is The Prince, i.e., Machiavelli wrote himself, in a way that can't be undone.
Edited on May 9, 2012 at 5:18amRe: The Guilty Pleasures of a Professor
You devil you. You've tempted me - I must have that book.
The good news (for us) is that your other method of procrastination is writing posts for Ricochet.
Feb '11
Re: The Guilty Pleasures of a Professor
Many are likewise tempted. Amazon is already out of stock!
Oct '10
Re: The Guilty Pleasures of a Professor
I was deeply disappointed with Professor William Cook's Teaching Company course on Machiavelli, which seemed to spin out a small store of material to fill out the 24 lectures. (His course on De Tocqueville, by contrast, is spellbinding.) I suggested to the company that they do a second edition of the course by including material on More and Utopia.
Now it looks like I don't have to wait for Cook.
(By the way, I've long thought that Utopia is a satire. But I can't prove it.)
Apr '12
Re: The Guilty Pleasures of a Professor
And no Kindle edition, either. Fie!
Nov '10
Re: The Guilty Pleasures of a Professor
Astonishing
Plato, somewhere, makes his Socrates say that he (Socrates) never wrote anything down because others inevitably would misuse his writings for purposes he never intended after he was no longer around to stop them.
Second Letter, 314c. Leo Strauss's thoughts on this are perhaps worth considering, p. 29, On Plato's Symposium.
It's also related to why Heidegger in What is Called Thinking? (which is incidentally a bad or misleading transliteration of the German; the title in German actually implies: "what calls you to think?"; or "what right do you have to philosophize?") says that the fact that Socrates never wrote anything makes him the purest philosopher who ever lived. Pure, not great...
Lastly, it's related to what's perhaps the most important line in all of Strauss's corpus: "Political philosophy has lost its credibility in proportion as politics itself has become more philosophic than ever in a sense" -- a statement with profound meaning for the political crisis of the West today.
Edited on May 9, 2012 at 6:54amRe: The Guilty Pleasures of a Professor
Adam Freedman: You devil you. You've tempted me - I must have that book.
The good news (for us) is that your other method of procrastination is writing posts for Ricochet. · 8 hours ago
Yes, that, too, is a guilty pleasure.
Sep '11
Re: The Guilty Pleasures of a Professor
It's not that it's out of stock--just hasn't been officially released yet.
Nov '11
Re: The Guilty Pleasures of a Professor
Robert Lux
Astonishing
Plato, somewhere, makes his Socrates say that he (Socrates) never wrote anything down because others inevitably would misuse his writings for purposes he never intended after he was no longer around to stop them.
Second Letter, 314c. Leo Strauss's thoughts on this are perhaps worth considering, p. 29, On Plato's Symposium.
* * * *
Lastly, it's related to what's perhaps the most important line in all of Strauss's corpus: "Political philosophy has lost its credibility in proportion as politics itself has become more philosophic than ever in a sense" -- a statement with profound meaning for the political crisis of the West today.
Don't you just lurve how Strauss lurves to modify with "in a sense"!
In what sense?
In what sense has politics become more philosophic than ever?
I believe in the possibility of political philosophy, but the possibility of philosophic politics . . . not so much. In a sense.
Feb '12
Re: The Guilty Pleasures of a Professor
I hope the sequel adds the correspondence of all of the above with Luther (who I think did correspond with Erasmus, and had opinions on More). Luther's style is so extreme it should be easy to imitate, and it would contrast nicely with the restraint of the others, and provide a chance to poke some wise-peasant-humor-fun at them.