Category Archives: Memoir

The Big City and Me

Posted on March 26, 2019 by Abigail

The Big City and Me I went to New York for an overnight last Thursday. This trip had been postponed for at least a year, during which I was dealing with one huge difficulty after another. Through the times and … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Autonomy, books, Childhood, 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, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Jews, Journalism, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, motherhood, Mysticism, novels, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, Political, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, radicalism, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Roles, Romantic Love, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, 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, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victims, Violence, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged 20th century critic, 51st Street, a writer’s honor, Abigail L. Rosenthal's "A Good Look at Evil", Alice’s Teacup, authenticity and success, Barbara Fisher, Barnard College, biography, Cafe Sabarsky, catching spies, Columbia University class of 1925, con artist, conservationists, Diana Trilling, easy mark, embezzeler, FBI raid, feminist activists, FGM, formative experiences, Frank and Ada Graham, friend of the arts, German U-boats, German/Austrian 20th century art museum, Henry M. Rosenthal, hollow words, honor killing, ill-gotten gains, integrity, Laurin Raiken, Leo Bronstein, life savings, Lionel and Henry, Lionel Trilling, Maine people, male friendship, meaning what you say, Meyer Schapiro, mitzvah, mystically sensitive, Nazi spy, Nazi spy ring, Neue Gallerie, New York City, New York in World War II, NYU Gallatin Division, old friends, Phyllis Chesler, Phyllis Chesler’s A Politically Incorrect Feminist: Creating a Movement with Bitches Lunatics Dykes Prodigies Warriors and Wonder Women, Phyllis Chesler’s The New Anti-Semitism, political courage, power street, Public Intellectual, reunions, righteous action, saving the earth, sense of place, short wave radio, sisterhood, street smarts, teacher/student relation, The Big City, The Country Mouse and the City Mouse, U-boats off New York, Viennese café, you can go home again, you can’t take it with you | 2 Comments

Jewish Time

Posted on March 19, 2019 by Abigail

Jewish Time Lately, I’ve had a growing sense of living my life on something I call “Jewish Time.” Have I anything concrete in view? In my childhood, when my parents were awaiting Israeli dinner guests, they expected them to be … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Anthropology, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, Bible, Biblical God, books, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, Faith, Fashion, Freedom, Friendship, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Hegel, hegemony, hidden God, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, novels, Ontology, Past and Future, Peace, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, Poetry, Political, Political Movements, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, radicalism, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, scientism, secular, self-deception, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, 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, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged being orphaned, Bucks County PA, Buddhism, covenant, covenant and geography, covenantal history, covenantal signatories, covenantal time, defining boundaries, desert vista, Divine intervention, divine manifestations, divine thunderclap, Eastern religion, empirical life, essential being, false transcendence, Fear and Trembling, getting one’s bearings, God as Co-Author, God in the storm, Hinduism, holy land and covenant, home sweet home, homelike experience, insider knowledge, Israeli time, Jewish time, late for dinner, lateness, life in history, loved and hated, meaningful timeline, modern Orthodox women, New York City, non-theistic systems, personal God, philo-semitism and antisemitism, philosophy, philosophy intro class, philosophy of religion, promised land, providential intervention, provincial customs, punctuality, religious boundary disputes, religious geography, setting one’s course, sincere words, spiritual systems, sub specie aeternitatis, subliminal losses, trans-empirical life, unspoiled landscape, worldly customs | Leave a comment

“Evil is Really Not Banal”

Posted on March 5, 2019 by Abigail

“Evil is Really Not Banal” This past week we’ve been in California, where I’ve resumed my treatments for neuropathy at the Loma Linda hospital. The other event of the week, salient for me, was a talk at the Claremont School … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, American Politics, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, Biblical God, books, bureaucracy, Christianity, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, dialectic, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, Hegel, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, History, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Jews, Journalism, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Martyrdom, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Political, Political Movements, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, radicalism, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, secular, Seduction, self-deception, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, Terror, terrorism, 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, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal's "A Good Look at Evil", audience Q&A, author/publisher relation, “The Rake’s Progress”, banality of evil, behaviorism, Bernard Harrison’s Blaming the Jews: The Persistence of a Delusion, blaming the Jews, book endorsements, book reviewers, book reviews, bureaucratic mindset, Claremont School of Theology, Coincidences, conscious evil, diabolical cunning, Evil, evil personified, excusing the Holocaust, explaining evil, fiction and real life, fighting the good fight, firming resolve, futile counterargument, groupthink, guidance from above, Hannah Arendt, Hannah Arendt's Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, Holocaust research, illustrations from life, knee fracture, Loma Linda Hospital, meaning what you say, moral coverup, Nazi arguments, Nazi canards, Nazi materials, Nazi talking points, neuropathy treatments, publishing snafus, speaker event, synchronicities, the Holocaust, the seducer, theologians, traps of argument, truth stranger than fiction, white-washing evil, wolf in sheep’s clothing | 8 Comments

Wickedness and Suffering

Posted on February 19, 2019 by Abigail

Wickedness and Suffering Does that heading about cover it? Eugene Ionesco, the brilliant Franco-Romanian playwright, wrote Tueur sans gages [Killer without wages], a play that opens with his characters marveling over the great neighborhood to which they feel fortunate to … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, beauty, Biblical God, book reviews, books, bureaucracy, Christianity, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Jews, Journalism, Judaism, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Memoir, memory, Messianic Age, Mind Control, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, motherhood, Ontology, Oppression, pacifism, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Poetry, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, public facade, Public Intellectual, radicalism, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romantic Love, secular, Seduction, self-deception, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, Terror, terrorism, 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 a beautiful neighborhood, alligator attack, anti-Zionism, autobiographical book, C-Span, career pinnacle, coping with grief, delegitimation of Israel, dystopia, earthly paradise, Elaine Pagels’ The Gnostic Gospels, Elaine Pagels’ Why Religion? A Personal Story, enlightenment ideals, Eugene Ionesco, fear and denial, fleeing for one’s life, fragile heart, Franco-Romanian playwright, genocidal preparations, God’s grief, God’s master plan, God’s suffering, green card, haves and have nots, Helen Zia’s Last Boat Out of Shanghai: The Epic Story of the Chinese Who Fled Mao’s Revolution, hiking accident, human fragility, ideal places, immigration benefits, immigration dangers, Ionesco’s Killer without wages, Ionesco’s Tueur sans gages, losing America, love at risk, mad killer, moral equations, moral equations unbalanced, opportunistic progressives, perfecting the world, plight of refugees, political narratives, power of unreason, problem of evil, refugees worldwide, repairing the world, selective reporting, sheep and wolves, successes and losses, suffering and malice, suffering in nature, the beautiful people, The New York Review of Books, the suffering world, the world’s grief, true love, un beau quartier, utopian community, virtue signaling, wickedness in man, world-shattering grief | Leave a comment

Men on the Timeline

Posted on February 12, 2019 by Abigail

Men on the Timeline The other night I was at the Franco-Tunisian café where I go to get some of my writing done. A sizeable group had taken one side of the section where I found a round table. They … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bigotry, Chivalry, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Films, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Oppression, Past and Future, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, Reductionism, relationships, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, Sociobiology, spiritual journey, 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, Violence, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged #metoo, a false life, artists under communism, award-winning films, believing in nothing, believing propaganda, black and white film, breaking faith, cafe eavesdropping, chivalry, classy cafe, communism v capitalism, communist-ruled Poland, condescension, deflecting advances, enabling sexism, escape to Paris, feminist preoccupations, foreign films, France, Franco-Tunisian cafe, grotesque sexism, heaven protect the working girl, high-end customers, human interconnectedness, ideality in men, ideology, inauthenticity, Iron Curtain, le coup de foudre, local diner, loss of faith, loss of trust, love without history, male protectiveness, male pushback, male revenge, manipulativeness, men who can cry, men’s new roles, night on the town, nihilism, out of line remarks, outmoded sexism, Paris, Parisian memories, Pawel Pawlikowski’s Cold War, permission to protest, Poland, Polish films, positive male role models, power advantage, pre-feminist days, pretended feminists, psychic interconnectedness, put downs, realistic men, redefining women, redefining women’s lives, reliable men, restaurant eavesdropping, romantic films, sensitivity training, sexist backlash, shared world, the French erotic model, the law of the brute, the party line, Tristan and Isolde, tunnel vision, uncalled for remarks, Upper Bohemia, what women want, women sharing a secret, women’s assertiveness, women’s self-definition, writers at cafes | Leave a comment

Normal?

Posted on January 29, 2019 by Abigail

Normal? There were many things I wanted to be when I grew up, but one of them was NORMAL. Since the counter-culture hadn’t yet come to public notice, normal was the only option offered to young girls at that time. … Continue reading →

Posted in Absolute freedom and terror, Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art of Living, Autonomy, bureaucracy, Childhood, Chivalry, Cities, Class, conformism, 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, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Jews, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Political, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, scientism, secular, 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, Theism, Theology, twenty-first century, victimhood, victims, Violence, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged absolutely normal, abuse and harassment therapy, acupuncture, adventures and misadventures, body language, camel hair coats, category mistake, Chinese Herbal treatment, college co-eds, college romance, cultural expectations, cultural norms, culture and counterculture, defensible life, dream verdict, dream vision, equine coach, experiments with truth, featureless normality, French womanly wisdom, horse sense, horse talk, ideals for young girls, inhabiting one’s body, inhabiting one’s intentions, massage therapy, Me Too, medical checkup, movie stars, Normal, normality, norms, other-directedness, peripheral neuropathy, personal repair, pretended adoration, primary care physician, Princeton town, Princeton University, public approval, qualitative norms, realized intentions, Smith girls, social kiss of death, statistical averages, wisdom figure | Leave a comment

Our Twentieth Wedding Anniversary

Posted on January 22, 2019 by Abigail

Our Twentieth Wedding Anniversary Today, the twentieth of January, is the actual day of our 20th wedding anniversary, though we had our celebratory dinner last Friday, after seeing the James Baldwin movie, “If Beale Street Could Talk.” At the restaurant, … Continue reading →

Posted in Academe, Action, Anthropology, Art of Living, beauty, Biblical God, books, Chivalry, Cities, Class, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, 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, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Legal Responsibility, Literature, Love, Masculinity, Memoir, memory, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, novels, Ontology, Past and Future, Philosophy, Political, Political Movements, politics of ideas, Power, presence, promissory notes, Psychology, Public Intellectual, Race, Reading, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, Romanticism, secular, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, social ranking, 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, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged academic criteria, academic dissenter, academic fights, anniversary, attraction of opposites, avoiding fights, “If Beale Street Could Talk”, black ex-patriot writers, boringly normal, bracketing attachments, bracketing the natural attitude, celebratory dinner, collegial rivalry, contemplation of essences, cri de coeur, defining projects, desire to know, dodging fights, Edmund Husserl, emotional defenses, emotional intelligence, falling in love, falling out of love, fight to the finish, fight with my name on it, James Baldwin, knowing one is in love, life risks, life summersault, life-changing summons, literary cri de coeur, love and courage, male ego, marital adjustments, marital real life, Marriage, movie goers, movie reviews, nostalgia, outing someone, Patrick Moynihan, personnel decisions, phenomenological reduction, political firing, political strategizing, queer and black, religious experience, religious summons, restaurant noise, Richard Wright, risking sacred things, romantic courage, romantic idealization, romantic while black, sacred things, saving Brooklyn College, sharing a world, sharing values, the marital adventure, the meaning of marriage, the right wife, vital things, wedding anniversary, womanly skills, writer’s rivalry, yearning | 2 Comments

	Abigail on The Burning of Notre Dame
	Laurin Raiken on The Burning of Notre Dame
	Abigail on The Burning of Notre Dame
	Frank J. Attanucci on The Burning of Notre Dame
	Abigail on The Big City and Me

Category Archives: Memoir

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