THE INNER VISION. Liberty and Literature. Edited by Edward B. McLean

Transcription

1 THE INNER VISION Liberty and Literature Edited by Edward B. McLean ISI BOOKS Wilmington, Delaware 2006

2 Copyright 2006 ISI Books All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written for inclusion in a magazine, newspaper, or broadcast. The inner vision : liberty and literature / edited by Edward B.McLean 1st ed. Wilmington, Del. : ISI Books, c2006. p. ; cm. ISBN-13: ISBN-10: Includes index. 1. Liberty in literature. 2. Liberty. 3. Libertarian literature. I. McLean, Edward B. JC585.I /1 dc Interior design by Claudia Henrie Published in the United States by: ISI Books Intercollegiate Studies Institute Post Office Box 4431 Wilmington, DE Manufactured in the United States of America

3 CONTENTS Preface EDWARD B. MCLEAN v Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Authority, Liberty and Responsibility in Milton s Paradise Lost GEORGE B. MARTIN 1 Liberty and Responsibility in Shakespeare s Rome JOHN ALVIS 13 Liberty in the Literary Criticism of Samuel Johnson MARTINE WATSON BROWNLEY 37 Notes from the Catacombs: On Dostoevsky as Southern Writer MARION MONTGOMERY 51

4 THE INNER VISION: LIBERTY AND LITERATURE Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Tom Sawyer: Potential President CATHERINE ZUCKERT 77 Complicity in Distorting and Silencing Freedom in James s The Golden Bowl ROBERT C. MCLEAN 99 Liberty and Responsibility in the Fiction of Robert Penn Warren STEVEN D. EALY 117 Notes 135 About the Contributors 149 Index 153

5 PREFACE EDWARD B. MCLEAN Freedom is an elemental condition of human life. More deeply than culture, language, art, or action, freedom remains the individual s constant companion, haunting, edifying, empowering, and restricting his every movement. Theologians, philosophers, and artists have tried to capture the essence of freedom. Economists and statesmen have tried to guarantee it to mankind. All these schools have brought great advances in the understanding of freedom and its implications, not least among them that men yearn to be free and need only an inspiring vision of freedom to move heaven and earth in search of it. One art, however, has often been neglected in our search for freedom. We are eager to study the intellectual tradition of freedom, and to strenuously ponder the concrete political or economic implications of our studies. We are fond of saying ideas have consequences. But freedom is a lived experience, and the consequences ideas about freedom have in individual lives largely escape our notice. We are tempted to think that studying the interior life of man is foreign to studying his need for freedom.

6 vi THE INNER VISION: LIBERTY AND LITERATURE There are good reasons for the silence or unresponsiveness that one meets when studying liberty through the lens of an actual, personal life. A man s thoughts, emotions, false starts, and brilliant victories should remain largely hidden by a curtain of privacy drawn to protect the myriad traces of his heart from the cold scrutiny of the scholar or the brutal curiosity of the state. The progress of life is not always good and happy. It is often intensely painful, sinful, and embarrassing. Subjecting all of life s intensity to the public eye would make living unbearable. Further, a man s life may not unfold neatly enough to allow a clear glimpse of the ideas which shaped him, gave him a particular savor or style, or betrayed him to utter ruin. But such things speak only about the hiddenness of human life, not its importance to the student of freedom. The philosophy, economics, or politics of freedom mean little unless they produce a life of freedom. We can easily know abstract principles, equations, or institutional structures. But how can we know what a free life is really like? It seems that a vital link is missing in any study of liberty that has no way to examine both the philosophical absolutes of freedom and their permutations in actual lives. Students of liberty should heed the ancient wisdom that dramatic literature offers, a way to connect the world of absolutes and particulars. Drama portrays the sublimity of absolutes within the limited horizons of individual lives. Antigone is not just about a woman trying to get her brother buried; it is also about justice and its relationship to law. Henry V is not just about the nature of political sovereignty; it is also about a man overcoming his own immaturity and daunting circumstances to emerge as a victorious servant of the common good. Whether formed on stage or between the covers of a novel, drama gives us entry to a magic place where personalities and absolutes can meet and interact without doing violence to one another, allowing us to wonder at ourselves and the world of ideals. The role literature can play in this study is not a cheap and trendy concession to relevance, a condescending trick played out of de-

7 Preface spair of our ability to grasp straight and abstract discourse. Good literature is impossible without a deep and abiding knowledge of the human heart, and classic literature is impossible without that knowledge and an equally profound grasp of abstract truths. Both kinds of knowledge are essential to a serious study of freedom. These essays are intended as an introduction to the ways in which literature can further the study of human freedom. They are not lessons of literature, but lessons about it how to read it, use it, and see within it the interplay of absolutes and individuals which lies at the heart of any valuable concept of freedom. Martine Brownley, with great insight, examines and endorses Samuel Johnson s prescription for judging literature and its capacity to convey important messages regarding man s ability and judgment. Marion Montgomery examines the correlation between human perceptivity of the nature of freedom from two different cultural contexts and identifies the similarities that exist between them in determining the nature and course of human liberty. George Martin examines the relationship between human liberty and obedience in his examination of Milton. Catherine Zuckert s essay on two of Mark Twain s figures clearly illuminates some of the perils associated with politics and virtue. Steven Ealy s essay on All the King s Men graphically records the problems of liberty and responsibility in the minds of men in the political arena. Robert McLean s essay on Henry James s The Golden Bowl explores how one s vision of freedom can destroy human happiness and visit calamity on all affected by this vision. John Alvis s essay looks at the relationship of power, circumstance, and politics to an individual s capacity to enjoy liberty or show responsibility. The authors and works are selected from a broad period of time and many different cultural contexts, but they are united by their works ability to form a lens through which we can focus our study of freedom. It is hoped that these essays will introduce the reader to an almost limitless fund of knowledge and opportunities to think deeply about freedom and responsibility. vii

8 viii THE INNER VISION: LIBERTY AND LITERATURE These essays were prepared for this series and represent the last of the Goodrich Lecture Series, sponsored by Wabash College in fulfillment of the Goodrich Fund to examine the requisites for a society of free and responsible individuals. ISI Books has published two other volumes consisting of essays initially prepared for the Goodrich Lecture series: Common Truths: New Perspectives on Natural Law, Derailing the Constitution, and An Uncertain Legacy: Essays on the Pursuit of Liberty. Catherine Zucker s essay is from Democracy s Literature, Patrick Deneen and Joseph Romance (eds.), Rowman and Littlefield, It is used by permission of the publisher. Steven D. Ealy s essay was previously published in Philosophy, Literature, and Politics: Essays Honoring Ellis Sandoz, Charles Emery and Barry Cooper (eds.), University of Missouri Press, It is used here by permission of the author and publisher. The editor wishes to express his thanks to the able assistance of Ms. Judith Oswalt at Wabash College in preparing this manuscript for publication.