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IRVING BABBITT and the STANDARDS of AESTHETIC JUDGMENT Irving Babbitt, an American Critic of the First Two Decades of the Twenti

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IRVING BABBITT and the STANDARDS of AESTHETIC JUDGMENT Irving Babbitt, an American Critic of the First Two Decades of the Twenti A. OWEN ALDRIDGE IRVING BABBITT AND THE STANDARDS OF AESTHETIC JUDGMENT Irving Babbitt, an American critic of the first two decades of the twentieth century, was one of tile leading literary compa- ratists of his country and along with Hutcheson, Macaulay, Posnett, Georges Brandes, and Fernand Baldensperger, one of the most eminent in the world. Today he is honoured by a chair of Comparative Literature named after him at Harvard University. Babbitt accepted Herder's opinion that "every na- tion is to cultivate to the utmost its own national genius, and then, as an offset to this self-assertion, have a comprehensive sympathy for other national originalities." In other words, "nationalism is to be tempered by internationalism.''1 Because of this broad and enlightened perspective, Babbitt was also one of the first comparatists anywhere in the world to advocate and practise the study of literary relationships between Europe and Asia. Indeed, with the exception of Posnett, he was the first major academic critic to do so. It was part of his method, as he explained in his own words, "to put Confucius behind Aris- totle and Buddha behind Christ." (DEL, 273) Revived interest in Babbitt has recently led in the United States to reprints, new editions, and critical studies of his works as well as to a symposium in his honour. This Babbitt revival 1 LAC, 186. The preceding symbol refers to Babbit's Literature and the American College (Boston, 1908). In subsequent references the follow- ing pairs of symbols and titles will be used: DEL Democracy andLeader- ship (Boston, 1924); MFC Masters of Modern French Criticism (Boston, 1912); NEK The New Laokoon (Boston, 1910); OBC On Being Creative (Boston, 1932); RR Rousseau and Romanticism (Boston, 1919). Neohelieon XIV/2 Akaddmiai Kiad6, Budapest John Benjamins B. V., Amsterdam 24 A. OWEN ALDRIDG-E has been linked with a neo-conservative movement in the Unit- ed States, presumably because conservatives approve the un- compromising moral tone of Babbitt's criticism. Babbitt himself drew a distinction between humanism and humanitarianism, advocating the former and rejecting the latter. It is possible, however, to separate, as I do myself, Babbitt's humanism or insistence on moral and literary standards from such contem- porary issues as opposition to social programmes for the poor or advocacy of an ever-increasing military presence. Babbitt him- self was not a militarist and he had no admiration for Henry Ford. I personally find no incompatibility between the holding of humanitarian ideals and respecting Irving Babbitt's human- ism and his refusal to divorce literary criticism from moral standards. Both of the two most renowned comparatists in the United States at present, Harry Levin and Ren6 Wellek, have written on Babbitt, but neither has expressed much enthusiasm for his work. He has received, moreover, almost no attention outside of the United States in either his time or ours. Perhaps his insistence on the close relationship between literature and life has contributed to his eclipse in the climate of literary opinion in the half-century after his death. While adovcating the "vigor- ous and virile application of ideas to life," (LAC, 133) he ridiculed the humanistic motto "The proper study of mankind is man." (LAC, 30) Although not affiliated with any religious sect, Babbitt showed respect for spiritual leaders such as Budd- ha, Confucius, and Christ, together with such later figures as Dante and Pascal, and he ardently espoused taking into con- sideration spiritual values - no doubt one of the reasons for his newly-found popularity among conservatives. Babbitt believed strongly in the notion (which he ascribed to Brunetirre) "that there is needed a principle of restraint in human nature (un principe refrenant), and that this principle cannot be evolved by the individual himself, but must be 'exterior, anterior and superior' to the individual." (MFC, 328-9) Babbitt criticised his age because of its failure to adhere .
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