Nightmares of Eminent Biographers

Abstract

,%views NIGHTMARES OF EMINENT BIOGRAPHERS KEITH GREEN English/Linguistics / Sheffield Hallam U. Sheffield, S. Yorks, SIO 2BP, UK K.M.GREEN@SHU.AC.UK Ray Monk. Bertrand Russel~ [Vol. 2:] 1921-70: the Ghost ofMadness. London: Cape, 2000; New York: Free P., 2001. Pp. xv, 574. 31 illus. £25.00; Cdn$75.00; US$4°.00. This second volume of biography of Russell completes Monk's largely revisionist account ofRussell's life, covering his last fifty years, from 1921 to . 1970. That the research and writing of the project as a whole occupied Monk for over ten years is hardly surprising. Russell's vast written output, longevity, huge number ofcontacts, roller-coaster love-life and considerable philosophical and political activities, to note just some aspects ofhis life, naturally present the biographer with a daunting task. Previous biographers such as Ronald Clarki and Caroline Moorehead/ despite their often engaging styles, tended to bypass the more difficult aspects of Russell's character and to avoid discussion of the technicalities ofhis philosophy. These were not hagiographic in tone, but in general approving of Russell the man. Yet Clark in particular is scathing about some of Russell's (fleetingly held) views on women and race, for instance, and readily draws attention to some of the philosopher's more absurd statements. Monk tackles the more troublesome and contrary side of his subject head on, exposing it in way that makes Clark and Moorehead's complaints rather slight. The real problem for any critic and reader of Monk's work is to assess the accuracy ofhis damming portrait ofRussell, as it has become in this second volume. The second half of Russell's life is bound to seem less enthralling than the first in a numb.er of respects. Instead of life at Cambridge, overwhelming first love, the monumental effort ofthe colossal Principia Mathematica (1910-13), the intellectual wrestling with Wittgenstein, the bold resistance to the Great War, 1 The Life ofBertrand Russell (London: CapelWeidenfeid & Nicolson, 1975; New York: Knopf, 1976). 1 Bertrand Russell: a Life (London: Sinclair Stevenson; New York: Viking, 1992). russell: the Journal of Bertrand Russell Studies The Bertrand Russell Research Centre, McMaster U. n.s. 20 (winter 2000-01): 151-84 155M 0036-01631 152 Reviews the love of Ottoline Morrell, the brief and passionate friendship with D. H. Lawrence and the formulation of the Theory of Descriptions, we have a vast journalistic output, endless lecture tours, failed marriages, bitter divorces, deteriorating relations with both family and friends, and the extraordinary final years under the influence of Ralph Schoenman. Like Clark and Moorehead before him, Monk spends a hundred fewer pages on this second part of Russell's life.. There are reasons for this, of course; most simply that the first part of Russell's life is more interesting, certainly philosophically, but also personally, than the second. In the same way Russell's autobiography is less engaging after the Great War. But in the case of Monk's second volume, another issue arises: the author finds the later Russell a thoroughly repugnant figure, incapable of love, emotionally maimed, colossally vain, and obsessed by fear of madness. In Volume I, The Spirit ofSolitude (1996),3 Monk had already admitted that he found his subject less than endearing, yet his admiration for Russell's achievements, ifnot so much his personality, was evident. The first volume was a significant biography and important addition to Russell studies because it threw new light on Russell's motives and was solidly based on Russell's own words. Monk looks coolly at Russell's life and philosophy while using much of his writing to elucidate key aspects ofa vastly complex figure. The most pleasing aspect of the volume, however, as has been generally recognized and applauded, was the ease in which Monk was able to move from commentary about Russell 's life to analysis of Russell's philosophy-something previous biographers had not been able to do. Volume 2 appears to conform to the same plan, but with one crucial difference: the author's lack of respect for his subject is obvious . However, in the preface Monk also states that he is "conscious that other pictures could be drawn...