Category Archives: Memoir

“Shabby”

Posted on July 18, 2017 by Abigail

“Shabby” Not so long ago, I reported here, in nearly ecstatic style, that a highly suitable publisher was expressing the kind of interest in my recently-completed book, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, that was really promising. Then, instead of going … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Autonomy, beauty, bureaucracy, Childhood, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Jews, Journalism, Judaism, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, master, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, nineteenth-century, novels, Oppression, Past and Future, Philosophy, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reductionism, relationships, Roles, Romance, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, status, status of women, Suffering, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victimhood, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal's "Confessions of a Young Philosopher", acquisitions editors, anti-semitism, author's plight, authoritarians, authors, auto-theory, book editors, breaking the silence, c.v., changes in publishing, changing mores, children playing, climate of opinion, computer crash, confiding, consistent story, conversation topics, crazy-making lies, creative play, default state, editor's budget, editor's interest, editor's rejections, editor's words, fabled editors, fitting the publisher's list, girl talk, good reads, honest dealing, instant gratification, Jewish books, Jewish calendar, Jewish sages, Jewish themes, jilted at the altar, job security, losing the past, manuscript submissions, marketing books, marketing department, memoir, men in taverns, new media rythms, pitching your book, playing outside, pregnant silence, press guidelines, print communication, promising press, publisher's "Jewish list", publisher's budget, publishing guidelines, publishing industry, readers and silence, reading habits, reading public, smoking, state of publishing, suitable publisher, talking about books, teachers and silence, the human norm, the realm of values, timeline, truthfulness, unsupervised play, women friends, world of yesterday, writers and silence | 3 Comments

Why Women Are Mean to Other Women

Posted on July 4, 2017 by Abigail

Why Women Are Mean to Other Women Whew! This is a touchy subject. Almost taboo, since we are these days denominated the compassionate, caring, anti-violence sex. Labels of these kinds call to mind the way 19th-century suffragettes made the case … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Autonomy, beauty, Chivalry, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, master, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, motherhood, nineteenth-century, non-violence, Oppression, pacifism, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Poetry, Political, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reductionism, relationships, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, Romanticism, scientism, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, slave, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, Sociobiology, 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, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged 19th century, American Philosophical Association, androgyny, anti-war women, APA, bad women, badness and goodness, cattiness, choreography, dance of courtship, domesticity, erotic polarities, female attractiveness, forging freedom, Francis Thomson’s In No Strange Land, free will, gender roles, good men, good women, gossip, helpmeet, living one’s story, male brutality, male cruelty, male/female polarity, man/woman asymmetry, man/woman choreography, manliness, maternal coldness, maternal virtues, mean girls, Mean women, moral difference, motherhood, nature v nurture, nurturing, philosophical argument, Plato’s Symposium, public v private, real men, real women, reigning orthodoxy, same-sex eros, sensitizing men, sex and gender, sex differences, sexual attraction, social constructs, suffragettes, sympathy for women, the caring sex, the compassionate sex, the feminist movement, time and fertility, timeless attraction, touchy subject, true stories, unisex, virility, winners and losers, women against violence, women against women, women in competition, women in the kitchen, women in the nursery, women’s caring, women’s compassion, yin and yang, youth and attractiveness | Leave a comment

About Confessions of a Young Philosopher

Posted on June 27, 2017 by Abigail

About Confessions of a Young Philosopher A few months have gone by since I actually put the concluding punctuation marks on Confessions of a Young Philosopher. Since then, it has been making its way through the strange maelstrom of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, beauty, bureaucracy, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Immorality, Institutional Power, Jews, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, Memoir, memory, Messianic Age, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, novels, Oppression, Past and Future, Philosophy, Political, Political Movements, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, radicalism, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, 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 Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victimhood, victims, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged a life problematic, a writer’s quest, Abigail L. Rosenthal's "Confessions of a Young Philosopher", biographies, book agents, book reviewers, books assigned in courses, cultural breakthrough, Culture, exhibitionism, extra-sensitivity, fashionable taboos, good and evil, great editors, identity, invisibility, life secrets, literary quality, memoirs, Mind Control, moral rank-pulling, novels, Oppression, originality, paradigm shift, periodicals, philosophers, psychological rank-pulling, public jeering, public leering, publishing world, race, recognized niches, religion, search for identity, self-acceptance, self-definition, self-righteousness, self-understanding, sex, Socrates, spiritual seeker, spirituality, subjective amplifications, the book business, The Examined Life, the philosophic life, the reading public, trade presses, university presses, Zeitgeist | 2 Comments

Memoirs, True or False?

Posted on June 13, 2017 by Abigail

Memoirs, True or False? Readers of this column are reminded from time to time that I recently finished a memoir, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, and am looking round the publishing business to see if any editor/publisher will put up … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, Childhood, Chivalry, Christianity, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, Guilt and Innocence, Health, Hegel, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Law, Legal Responsibility, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, Mortality, Mysticism, nineteenth-century, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, Poetry, Political, Political Movements, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, Romanticism, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, slave, social climbing, 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, victimhood, victims, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged "a dog in that fight", 19th century Denmark, Abigail L. Rosenthal's "Confessions of a Young Philosopher", Abigail L. Rosenthal's Tales of Rav Tsair, academe, aetheists, akedah, autobiographical, being misinformed, believers, bequest, betrothal, biography, boat launch, broken engagement, Columbia class of 1925, conflict of duties, Copenhagen, defamation, Diana Trililng's The Beginning of the Journey: The Marriage of Diana and Lionel Trilling, Diana Trilling, editor, ego-driven, formative experience, generous renunciation, Grandpa, hagiography, higher purpose, intellectual influence, intimacy, jilted girl, Joakim Garff's Kierkegaard’s Muse: The Mystery of Regine Olsen, Kierkegaard's Diary of a Seducer, Kierkegaardian influence, last will of Kierkegaard, Lionel Trilling, literary critic, magic mountain, male friendship, manipulation, married life, masks of ego, memoir, Mrs. Regine Schlegel, Natalie Robins' The Untold Journey: The Life of Diana Trilling, neurotic suspension of the ethical, New York intellectuals, obedience to divine commands, opinion shapers, philosophy, publisher, publishing business, realm of duty, Regine Olsen, self-will, shallow dogmatism, spiritual seduction, submission to the divine, Swiss sanitarium, Swiss TB treatment, TB treatment, teleological suspension of the ethical, The Binding of Isaac, the ethical level, the seducer, the spiritual level, theology, trust in God, University of Lausanne, woman as ideal | Leave a comment

The Woman on the Pedestal

Posted on June 6, 2017 by Abigail

The Woman on the Pedestal I’m pretty near the end of Pamela, the novel about the heroine whose virtue gets rewarded that I cited last week. How does she manage to hold on to her “treasure”? (It really is, since … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Art, Art of Living, Autonomy, beauty, Biblical God, Chivalry, Christianity, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Courage, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, eighteenth century, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, Guilt and Innocence, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, Mortality, nineteenth-century, non-violence, novels, Oppression, pacifism, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Poetry, Political, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, Romanticism, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, social climbing, 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 18th century novel, 19th century Denmark, bad intentions, beloved, betrayal, better angels, biography, broken engagement, cattiness, courtship, existentialism, fallen woman, female wiles, feminine resistance, feminine rivalry, fine gentleman, heartbreak, high ideals, idealization, jilted woman, Joakim Garff's Kierkegaard’s Muse: The Mystery of Regine Olsen, living in history, love, male villainy, martial arts, masculine insults, masculine manipulation, masculine threats, masculine wiles, menaced innocence, moral turnaround, near violence, philosophic originality, powerful men, presence of mind, profaning one's image, reforming men, Romantic Love, Samuel Richardson's Pamela or Virtue Rewarded, self-defeating moves, sexual harrassment, simplifications, social ascent, social protection, social scandal, social status, Soren Kierkegaard, soul at risk, spiritual v ethical, traps of idealization, unequal combat, unequal struggle, unisex intellect, victory of underlings, virtuous heroine, virtuous woman, woman on pedestal, yin and yang | 1 Comment

Is Virtue Rewarded?

Posted on May 30, 2017 by Abigail

Is Virtue Rewarded? The other day, Jerry brought me a book for nighttime reading titled Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded. It’s an 18th century classic by Samuel Richardson but that’s not why he gave it to me. He knows I like … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Autonomy, beauty, Biblical God, bureaucracy, Chivalry, Christianity, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, eighteenth century, Erotic Life, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Films, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Journalism, Legal Responsibility, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, master, master/slave relation, Medieval, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, novels, Oppression, Past and Future, Philosophy, Poetry, Political, Political Movements, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Renaissance, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, Romanticism, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, slave, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, Sociobiology, spiritual journey, status, status of women, Suffering, Terror, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victimhood, victims, Violence, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged 18th century novel, advice columns, attractiveness, being uptight, boorish, bourgeois, bourgeois norms, bourgeois values, Bullying, cattiness, conformism, Da Vinci, Dante's Beatrice, dental cavities, dentistry, early feminism, epater le bourgeois, epistolary novel, eroding values, following fads, frigid, Glamour magazine, gossip magazines, great teeth, hairdressers, happy ending, heroine's virtue, ideality, images of ideality, improving lives, keeping up with the Joneses, knight's purpose, knights in armor, Leo Bronstein, loveliness, manipulative, Marquis de Sade, men and women, middle class values, Mona Lisa, mystery lady, Oppressed v Oppressors, pop culture, pop therapy, porn, pushed around, repairing the world, romantic, S&M, Sade's bio, Samuel Richardson's Pamela, sex and ideas, sex on the brain, stifling thought, the feminine, the new normal, vanilla sex, vicarious courage, vicarious sex, virtue's reward, Walter Scott's Ivanhoe, wanting to please, whips and chains, women's empowerment, women's liberation, women's magazines, women's movement | Leave a comment

A Chosen People?

Posted on May 23, 2017 by Abigail

A Chosen People? These days I have been reading a splendid book in draft by a British analytic philosopher showing the fallacies that make up the new anti-semitism. He shares the broadly secular worldview of those he opposes, which is … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, Bible, Biblical God, Christianity, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, eighteenth century, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, Health, Hegel, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Jews, Journalism, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master, Memoir, memory, Messianic Age, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, Mortality, Mysticism, non-violence, Ontology, Oppression, pacifism, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Political, Political Movements, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, secular, Seduction, self-deception, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, Sociobiology, 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, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Analytic philosophy, anti-semitic cartoons, anti-semitism, anti-semitism explained, Bible, bitter anger, British Analytic Philosophy, British Philosophy, capitalists, chosenness, chronological record, civility, colleagues, Communists, contemporary world view, cosmopolitans, critical reading, culpable negligence, deathless hatred, different, Edward Alexander's Jews Against Themselves, eliminationism, explosive anger, fallacies, God as a player, God's chosen people, good story, Gotthold Lessings's Nathan the Wise, guests, hatred, incivility, irrelevant accusations, Jews, liberal good will, longest hatred, maladroitness, Michael Wyschogrod, mistaken beliefs, mistaken choice, misunderstandings, nationalists, outsider, particularlist v universalist, political guilt, post-prophetic era, prophecy in Israel, prophetic era, reading the Bible, resentment, ressentiment, Sabra and Shatila, scapegoat, secular explanation, secular society, secular world view, secularism, shape-changing, significant dream, spiritual cure, spiritual malady, street protests, successful, Sydney newspapers, temporality, theologian, theology, true story, understanding the Bible, war crimes, weird phenomenon, zen-like | 2 Comments

	Johan Herrenberg on “Shabby”
	Abigail on “Shabby”
	Johan Herrenberg on “Shabby”
	Abigail on “Two Views”
	Prudence Lezy on “Two Views”

Category Archives: Memoir

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