Monthly Archives: June 2020

The Old Account Was Settled

Posted on June 30, 2020 by Abigail

The Old Account Was Settled There’s a country gospel song about our debt of sin. It goes: The old account was settled long ago. I’ve been reckoning up accounts that ordinarily get settled in young adulthood, when you figure out … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Autonomy, Bible, Biblical God, books, bureaucracy, Childhood, Chivalry, Christianity, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, Memoir, memory, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, Ontology, Past and Future, Philosophy, Poetry, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, secular, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, Terror, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged a daughter’s duty, accounts left open, American culture mid-20th-century, American intellectual life, arbitration hearing, archives, Archiving, balanced assessment, balanced life, balancing accounts, closure, Columbia University philosophers, country gospel, CUNY “Corporation Counsel”, CUNY lawyer, debt to parents, essays, father fixation, fiction, filial piety, Henry M. Rosenthal, Henry M. Rosenthal's The Consolations of Philosophy, Holocaust rescue, Horace L. Friess, intellectual correspondence, international law, journals, keeping accounts, lawyer friend, letter of appreciation, literary property, manuscripts, master list, nonfiction, papers of Henry M. Rosenthal, personal presence, private man, public man, Rafael Lemkin, recommendation letter, record of a life, record of achievement, remarkable father, reviews, settling accounts, success and unsuccess, testimony under oath, The Genocide Convention, the Jewish spirit, union lawyer, work realized, work unrealized, young adulthood | 2 Comments

My Father’s Continuing Funerary Cortege

Posted on June 23, 2020 by Abigail

My Father’s Continuing Funerary Cortege A country song comes to mind as I try to picture what reading the complete extant papers of my father has been like for me during these past weeks. There’s a long line of mourners … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, Biblical God, books, bureaucracy, Childhood, Chivalry, Christianity, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, Faith, Fashion, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, Memoir, memory, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, Mysticism, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Poetry, politics of ideas, Power, presence, promissory notes, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romantic Love, secular, self-deception, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, Suffering, Terror, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged 10 commandments, 1920s-1970s, accepting Sinaitic law, accepting The Covenant, admirers, appreciative letters, Bobby Bare’s “Long Black Limousine”, challenge of being human, charisma, Columbia class of 1925, country song, deep levels of nature, depth of tradition, detachment, executrix, father-daughter relation, fear of God, funeral cortege, generous love, Henry M. Rosenthal, highbrow America, humble parishioners, imagination, incorruptibility, Israel at Sinai, knowing my father, letters from notables, literary estate, living culture, Louisville Kentucky, Moses, mourners, national opinion shapers, nearness to God, papers of Henry M. Rosenthal, personal magnetism, philosophy students, primeval chaos, risks of The Covenant, sermon, sermon on Mount Sinai, Shevuoth sermon 1941, still small voice, talking to God, tapping sources of being, the burden of being human, the fight to be human, the secret of a life, the secret of a man, thunder at Sinai, trained skill, voice at Sinai, voice of God, words of Sinaitic law, worldly success | Leave a comment

Book Matters

Posted on June 16, 2020 by Abigail

Book Matters The Other Madisons: The Lost History of a President’s Black Family by Bettye Kearse It’s the African-Americans who have the secret of America. Or so we all feel subliminally, with a kind of “holy envy.” That’s the expression … Continue reading →

Posted in book reviews, books | Tagged Betty Kearse's The Other Madisons: The Lost History of a President’s Black Family, Henry M. Rosenthal, J.D. Vance's Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis | Leave a comment

Loyalty to Origins

Posted on June 9, 2020 by Abigail

Loyalty to Origins* What you and I would like to achieve in our identity politics is purity. We don’t want to be double — or a double-crosser. We want to be single-minded. As Leo Bronstein, whom I’ve cited before in … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, beauty, Biblical God, books, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, master, Memoir, memory, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, novels, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Philosophy, Political, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, secular, Seduction, self-deception, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Anne Fadiman’s The Wine Lover’s Daughter, Barbara Fisher, battle of words, British acculturation, character challenge, Clifton Fadiman, college friendships, Columbia archives, Columbia class of 1925, establishing authenticity, friends and rivals, getting each other’s number, Henry M. Rosenthal, Henry M. Rosenthal’s “Inventions”, identity ambivalence, identity loyalty, identity politics, identity purity, ignoble victories, Jewish authenticity, Jewish intensity, Jewish Theological Seminary, John Vaughan, Leo Bronstein, Lionel Trilling, Lionel Trilling/Henry Rosenthal correspondence, literary powers, living as a Jew, loyalty to origins, male friendship, male rivalry, male status, non-Jewish surnames, obsessively Jewish, one-upmanship, passionately Jewish, Sidney Hook, spiritual adventure, stylish imperturbability, talented classmates, the false and the genuine, The Menorah Journal, the name Trilling, Trilling/Rosenthal friendship, unflappable snobbishness, verbal sparring, who is more authentic, writers fictionalizing writers, writers on writers, youthful genius | Leave a comment

Touching Up Roots

Posted on June 2, 2020 by Abigail

Touching Up Roots Today, for the first time in my life, I’ve tried – with the help of the kit I sent for – to color my own hair. What’s the worst that could happen? I’ll come out looking like … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art of Living, Autonomy, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, books, Childhood, Chivalry, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, motherhood, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Philosophy, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, Sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Abraham and Sarah, Abraham’s bluff, ancestral roots, being a single woman, biblical couples, biblical eros, biblical ungallantry, Book of Numbers, coloring one’s hair, competing with God, cultural roots, demanding your rights, divine man/woman partnership, divine-human partnership, face-to-face lovemaking, father-daughter relation, feminism and Judaism, feminist protest, fight with my name on it, fighting human nature, fighting nature, fighting till I lose, fighting till I win, filial piety, God and romantic life, gray hair, Hebrew Bible, Henry M. Rosenthal, home hair color, Jacob and Rachel, Jewish roots, Judaism and women, letting nature take its course, Lot’s daughters, Lot’s guests, men rescuing women, monogamous passion, not my fight, passion for God, personal God, problematic biblical sources, Song of Songs, the Bible and women, the Bible's woman problem, the Pentateuch, the Torah, Thomas Cahill’s The Gift of the Jews, Torah Study, touching up roots, trial by ordeal, virtual bible study, woman’s coping strategies, women in peril, women of the Bible, women rescuing men | Leave a comment

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Monthly Archives: June 2020

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