Comments on: The Humbling Lionel Trilling http://conversationalreading.com/the-humbling-lionel-trilling/ Since 2004. The blog of the critic, writer, and editor, Scott Esposito Wed, 23 May 2012 13:19:02 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 By: Tom http://conversationalreading.com/the-humbling-lionel-trilling/#comment-5378 Tom Sat, 31 Jul 2010 01:16:50 +0000 http://conversationalreading.com/?p=8614#comment-5378 I'm with Gary on this one. I don't find the sentence hopeless, but nor do I find it particularly arresting. "A difference of essence" is too abstract a thesis -- presumably any two stories (even those by the same author) exhibit differences of essence. And what does essence mean anyway? Style? Syntax? Some kind of conceptual machinery? Trilling was a lucid and enthralling critic, but this sentence, taken out of context, is a dud. I’m with Gary on this one. I don’t find the sentence hopeless, but nor do I find it particularly arresting. “A difference of essence” is too abstract a thesis — presumably any two stories (even those by the same author) exhibit differences of essence. And what does essence mean anyway? Style? Syntax? Some kind of conceptual machinery?

Trilling was a lucid and enthralling critic, but this sentence, taken out of context, is a dud.

]]> By: Gary H http://conversationalreading.com/the-humbling-lionel-trilling/#comment-5377 Gary H Fri, 30 Jul 2010 22:52:33 +0000 http://conversationalreading.com/?p=8614#comment-5377 On the contrary, this sentence, far from being perfect, is a muddle. The first bit says that The Fifth Column “makes the occasion.” Now what does “make the occasion” mean? Usually it’s used in the sense of improving an event: “A regular wine is ok, but having a fine one makes the occasion.” But then it could be neutral, “occasion” in that sense being generic and stripped of its flavor of something other than everyday. So maybe it isn’t positive after all. Then we learn that The First Forty-Nine Stories constitute the book’s “virtue” (suggesting—does it?—that The Fifth Column doesn’t exhibit any). Would that be in the sense of “moral excellence”? Or does it mean “virtue” in the sense of “good quality”? Or maybe it’s “manly courage,” macho stuff—ok, that fits, too. So which is it? Who can tell? For my part, I don’t care much for macho stuff, so if “virtue” means that, for me at least it’s bad. I don’t care much for preachy stuff, either, so if it’s virtue in the sense of “moral excellence,” that might not be so good, either, depending on what the sentence-writer understands by “moral excellence.” Then comes “a difference of essence.” What could that mean? That the two parts are different kinds of things entirely, probably. But is that a judgment? Two things can be different—have different essences, even—and still be both excellent or both wretched. No, this sentence might redeem itself in the context of the essay it heads off, it might be clear once that essay has been read, and it might even come to encapsulate the essence (there it is again!) of the essay for the initiated reader, but by itself it’s all but hopeless. On the contrary, this sentence, far from being perfect, is a muddle. The first bit says that The Fifth Column “makes the occasion.” Now what does “make the occasion” mean? Usually it’s used in the sense of improving an event: “A regular wine is ok, but having a fine one makes the occasion.” But then it could be neutral, “occasion” in that sense being generic and stripped of its flavor of something other than everyday. So maybe it isn’t positive after all. Then we learn that The First Forty-Nine Stories constitute the book’s “virtue” (suggesting—does it?—that The Fifth Column doesn’t exhibit any). Would that be in the sense of “moral excellence”? Or does it mean “virtue” in the sense of “good quality”? Or maybe it’s “manly courage,” macho stuff—ok, that fits, too. So which is it? Who can tell? For my part, I don’t care much for macho stuff, so if “virtue” means that, for me at least it’s bad. I don’t care much for preachy stuff, either, so if it’s virtue in the sense of “moral excellence,” that might not be so good, either, depending on what the sentence-writer understands by “moral excellence.” Then comes “a difference of essence.” What could that mean? That the two parts are different kinds of things entirely, probably. But is that a judgment? Two things can be different—have different essences, even—and still be both excellent or both wretched. No, this sentence might redeem itself in the context of the essay it heads off, it might be clear once that essay has been read, and it might even come to encapsulate the essence (there it is again!) of the essay for the initiated reader, but by itself it’s all but hopeless.

]]>