Intellectuals

Name: Intellectuals
ISBN: 9787516655184

保罗·约翰逊 / 杨正润Xinhua Publishing House · ChinaSep 2025

4.0

Word count: 291K words
Chapters: 15
ISBN: 9787516655184

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Summary

After Intellectuals was published in London, it immediately provoked strong reactions on both sides of the Atlantic; it was reprinted again and again in Britain and the United States and remained a perennial bestseller. Immediately after its first publication it rose to the top of the New York Times bestseller list! Among those discussed in this book—Rousseau, Shelley, Ibsen, Tolstoy, Hemingway, Brecht, Russell, Sartre, Edmund Wilson, Victor Gollancz, Lillian Hellman, and others—some are thinkers and writers we know well and deeply admire, and some even influenced the course of history. Now the author offers us a more comprehensive analysis of the daily lives of these great thinkers. How did they manage themselves in life? How did they treat their relationships with family, friends, and associates? How did they handle matters of sex and money? The London Review of Books once published an article calling this book "a persuasive and also entertaining book; even those who dislike it will find pleasure in it." The book narrows the distance between intellectuals and the general public and brings people a greater understanding of human nature.

Editor's review

Paul Johnson's Intellectuals is a highly controversial and intellectually penetrating work; it is no hymn of praise to intellectuals but a calm and even severe "pathology report." Grounded in detailed historical sources, the author brings more than a dozen cultural giants of modern Western history—Rousseau, Shelley, Marx, Tolstoy, Hemingway, Sartre, and others—down from their pedestals, focusing on the vast gap between their private lives and their public images. Johnson's core argument is that these "sages," who set themselves up to construct ideal societies and guide humanity's morals, often behaved in their personal conduct in ways diametrically opposed to their lofty theories—selfish, hypocritical, cold, and irresponsible. This interrogation of intellectuals' "virtue" forces readers to reconsider a fundamental question: should the value of ideas be separated from the character of those who propound them? Reading this book is by no means about obtaining simple moral satisfaction or historical gossip; it is a serious exercise in thought. It challenges our blind worship of authority and reminds us to maintain an independent spirit of examination and criticism before accepting any grand narrative or "ism." Although Johnson's strokes sometimes seem extreme, and the cases he selects and the angles of his argument are open to question, this is precisely the book's greatest value—it is not a final verdict but a sharp scalpel that cuts open a side of intellectual history often romanticized, provoking necessary reflection and debate.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers with a strong interest in Western intellectual history and the social role of intellectuals
Thinkers who wish to cultivate independent critical thinking and not follow authority blindly
Readers who enjoy polemical historical biographies with distinctive perspectives
Social-science enthusiasts concerned with the tension between the ethics of public speech and personal morality

Not a good fit for

Devoted admirers who regard the thinkers mentioned in the book as perfect idols and are unwilling to see their images subjected to any scrutiny
Readers expecting a systematic, neutral, and comprehensive general history of intellectuals

Reading tips

While reading, treat the book as one important historical commentary among many, and consult biographies of the figures from other angles to form a balanced understanding.
Focus on the logic of the author's arguments and the historical sources he cites, and consider the reasonableness and limits of his criticism.
After finishing, consider further: in the contemporary context, how should the responsibility and limits of "intellectuals" be defined?

About the publisher

Xinhua Publishing House China · Founded in 1979

Xinhua Publishing House is known for books on politics, journalism, biography and the social sciences. Its 519 titles in the catalog cover world history, social culture, history reading, military affairs, language and writing, and applied psychology. Representative books include Winston Churchill's multi-volume A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, John Dewey's Art as Experience, Wayne Booth's The Craft of Research, and The Chicago Guide to Writing About Research, as well as military history such as Defeat into Victory: The Decisive Campaign in Burma and India, 1942–1945. Its authors range from international figures such as Churchill, Dewey and Booth to Chinese writers including Wu Hao, Luo Dingzi, Li Xuehua and Zhao Hong, giving the press a distinctive profile that balances classic translation with practical writing and emphasizes both history and the social sciences.

版权信息
译者序关于知识分子的一种思考
1 卢梭：“有趣的疯子”
2 雪莱：无情的理念
3 易卜生：“恰恰相反！”
4 托尔斯泰：上帝的兄长
5 海明威：深渊
6 布莱希特：冰一样的心
7 罗素：一则合乎逻辑的废话
8 萨特：“裹着毛皮的小墨水瓶”
9 威尔逊：因忏悔得救的人
10 高兰茨：被折磨的良心
11 赫尔曼：谎话，该死的谎话
12 理性的逃亡
译后记

FAQ

Are the book's views too extreme?

The book does adopt a highly challenging and critical perspective, and its conclusions are sharp. Readers may regard it as an important, provocative critical voice intended to break myths rather than provide a comprehensive final verdict. Understanding its arguments and engaging in critical reflection on them is the key value of reading it.

Do I need to know the intellectuals mentioned in the book beforehand?

Some basic background knowledge about the relevant figures (such as their main ideas and historical standing) will greatly enhance the reading experience and depth of understanding. But the author provides key outlines of their lives and thought in the narrative, so even readers with limited prior knowledge can follow the main line of argument.

How reliable are the book's historical sources?

As a veteran historian, Paul Johnson cites a wealth of historical materials such as letters, diaries, and contemporary records. However, all historical writing involves the selection and interpretation of materials. Readers are encouraged to remain cautious about his arguments and to cross-check against other authoritative sources and biographies.

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About the author

保罗·约翰逊 Author

Paul Johnson is the author of works in the fields of history and Western philosophy; reliable public information about his life is limited, and his nationality and dates of birth and death are not clearly recorded. Two of his books are currently included in the collection: A History of the Jews (two volumes) and Intellectuals. The former traces the history of the Jewish people over several millennia in the form of a long general history, while the latter focuses on intellectuals as a group and takes a scrutinizing, critical stance toward them. Judging from these two works, his writing combines broad historical narrative with analysis of individuals, spans the fields of history and thought, and emphasizes readability for general readers rather than specialists. Because reliable primary biographical sources are lacking, no further inferences are made here about his career or identity; readers may learn about his concerns and prose style from the two works mentioned above.

杨正润 Author

Yang Zhengrun is a Chinese-language book author about whom limited public information is available; details of his life, nationality, and dates of birth and death cannot currently be verified. Judging from the two works held in the collection, Intellectuals and Modern Biography Studies (Volume 17), his writing and editorial work center on two fields, Western philosophy and biography studies, touching on both the intellectual issues surrounding intellectuals and the scholarly methods of biography research. Such subjects require an interdisciplinary outlook, enabling the author to trace philosophical threads while also addressing the historical sources and theoretical questions of biographical texts. His works offer Chinese readers useful reference for understanding Western discussions of intellectuals and current developments in modern biography studies, and are suited to readers interested in intellectual history and biography.