Historian and "cultural gadfly"* Jacques Barzun has died, at age 104.**
I just suggested his book From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life 1500 to the Present (which was published when he was 92) to someone, but felt like a bit of a poser because, although I own it, I've never read it. I've read it in bits but what I'd love to do is sit right down and read it through. Sigh. Someday, when I have world enough and time.
My sister also swears by his title Simple and Direct: A Rhetoric for Writers,*** which is considerably shorter than Dawn to Decadence's 877 pages, and is a guide (of sorts) to better writing style. I should look into reading the entirety of that one too (clearly, as my writing could use some help).
*What a great epitaph. Who wouldn't want to be described as a "cultural gadfly"?
**I find his obituary somewhat unilluminating on the personal side. If he is survived by a wife and several children and grandchildren, why are none of them his executor? These are always the types of questions that bug me in obituaries, and they're never answered. Note: After I read the New York Times obit, it was later corrected to say Arthur Krystal was his friend and editor, not his executor. This makes more sense, although I still think this obit gave his personal life short shrift.
***This is becoming one messy post. Here's my own correction: my sister (and my own personal fact-checker, clearly) tells me the book she swears by is actually Barzun's title Begin Here: The Forgotten Conditions of Teaching and Learning. Let's just split the difference and say I'd like to read all of Mr. Barzun's books, and hopefully someday will have the time to do so.
Never heard of him. Which is why you are good for me and my cultural awareness.
Posted by: Care | 29 October 2012 at 07:17 AM
For more on Jacques Barzun's "personal side" (but no gossip), read Michael Murray, Jacques Barzun: Portrait of a Mind.
Posted by: Leo Wong | 08 November 2012 at 08:56 AM
Leo,
Thanks for the tip! I get the feeling there wasn't a whole lot of gossip available on him anywhere--remarkably, he seems to have managed to keep much of his private side private. But I'd certainly be interested in learning more about him and his work.
Posted by: Citizen Reader | 08 November 2012 at 03:24 PM
If you have not read Carolyn Heilbrun's When Men Were the Only Models We Had, do yourself a big favor and get hold of a copy. She talks about Barzun as a professor and later a colleague. (My father also studied at Columbia when he was teaching there, so it was for me for that reason, too.)
Posted by: laura | 17 November 2012 at 01:10 PM
Laura,
I've not read (or heard of) the Heilbrun--sounds fascinating, thank you.
OOooh, did your father take a class with Barzun? Would've loved to hear him talk or teach, myself.
Posted by: Citizen Reader | 18 November 2012 at 02:47 PM