NATIONALHumanities ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES • VOLUME 9 • NUMBER 2 • MARCH/APRIL 1988

Robert Nisbet Jefferson Lecturer Humanities

Editor's Note

Kicking the Giant

The achievements of sociologist and historian Robert A. Nisbet can be mea­ sured both concretely—more than twenty books published over a forty-year career of teaching and writing—and abstractly through a lifetime's examina­ tion of the history and philosophy of social thought. On May 11, 1988, Robert A. Nisbet in Bryce Park, near his Nisbet will present the seventeenth Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities. The home in Washington, D.C. The park is lecture is the highest honor conferred by the U.S. government for outstand­ named for Viscount James Bryce (1838-1922), ing achievement in the humanities. Nisbet's work, like that of many scholars British historian, diplomat, statesman, and through the ages, is based on the premise, personified by the thirteenth- professor. In Bryce's best-known book, The century allegorical figure of a dwarf standing on the shoulders of a giant, American Commonwealth, he disagreed that one cannot understand the present without knowing about the past. with Tocqueville's assertion that majority opinion in the United States terrorized indi­ Through articles about Nisbet and the ideas prominent in his work, Hu­ vidual opinion more than did the Spanish manities considers how the traditions of the past affect the present and influ­ Inquisition. Bryce was British ambassador to ence the future. In "History and the Idea of Progress," Gertrude Himmel- the United States from 1907 to 1913 and one farb discusses the idea of progress and why its disappearance from of the founders of the League of Nations. twentieth-century social thought does not bode well for the West. William (Photo by Nora Stewart) Schambra, in "Tocqueville and the Dangers of Democracy," explains why Alexis de Tocqueville believed the move toward democracy represented a dangerous break with the authority and traditions of the aristocratic age and Humanities A bimonthly review published by the examines what Tocqueville found in American democracy that protected it National Endowment for the Humanities from the kind of "soft tyranny" he feared would be democracy's ultimate Chairman: Lynne V. Cheney stage. Director of Publications Also included in this issue are several articles about NEH-supported proj­ and Public Affairs: ects aimed at exploring how traditions of the past are understood and ob­ Marguerite Hoxie Sullivan served in present-day life. "Religious Resurgence in East and Southeast Assistant Director for Publications Asia," by Susan Burnam, describes a conference that will be held in 1989 to and Editor: Caroline Taylor explore a religious renaissance in Asia. "Poland's Informal Economy," by Consulting Editor: Shirley Sirota Rosenberg Joseph Brown, sheds light on the examination by Polish scholars of the infor­ Production Editor: Scott Sanborn mal economic system that has meant daily survival to the Poles for more Production Assistant: Susan Querry than forty years. And "Buying and Selling Contemporary Art" by Nancy Circulation Manager: Joy Evans Editorial Board: Becker discusses a French sociologist's study of the interaction between aes­ John Agresto, Marjorie Berlincourt, thetic appreciation and financial value in the French art market. Harold Cannon, Richard Ekman, Donald Speaking of financial value, we are pleased to announce that the annual Gibson, Guinevere Griest, Jerry Martin subscription price for Humanities has been decreased from $14 to only $9 per Design: Hausmann/Krohn, Inc. year as the result of a change in the Superintendent of Documents' pricing formula for periodicals. The price change will in no way diminish our cover­ The opinions and conclusions expressed in age. Humanities will continue to offer subscribers thoughtful essays by distin­ Humanities are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect Endowment policy. Material guished writers and scholars on a wide range of subjects, as well as regular appearing in this publication, except for that features on NEH-supported projects and the Humanities Guide, which in already copyrighted, may be freely repro­ this issue features "Right Tool, Wrong Job: What a Challenge Grant Is Not," duced. Please notify the editor in advance so that appropriate credit can be given. The by Harold Cannon. Chairman of the Endowment has determined There could be no more appropriate metaphor for the tradition of the hu­ that the publication of this periodical is neces­ manities than the dwarf standing on the shoulders of a giant. An old idea, it sary in the transaction of the public business required by law of this agency. Use of funds is one that has been challenged and even disowned recently. As Robert for printing this periodical has been approved Nisbet has said, "In our art and literature and philosophy, the dwarf has by the director of the Office of Management gotten down from the giant to stand on the ground and kick the giant's and Budget through September 1988. Send requests for subscriptions and other commu­ ankles." There is a price to be paid, he warns, for because we are incapable nications to the editor, Humanities, National of perceiving the future, we find again and again that only through knowl­ Endowment for the Humanities, 1100 Penn­ edge of the past can we effectively handle the problems of the present. sylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20506. Telephone 202/786-0435. Annual sub­ — Caroline Taylor scription rate: $9. (USPS 521-090) ISSN 0018-7526.

2 Contents

The Philosophy of Social Thought The Ascendancy of Ideas by Caroline Taylor. The life and work of Robert Nisbet, seventeenth Jefferson Lecturer in the Humanities. History and the Idea of Progress by Gertrude Himmelfarb. Abandoning the Western idea of progress may not bode well for the future. Tocqueville and the Dangers of Democracy by William A. Schambra. How America has managed to avoid democracy's darker side. Plato's Political Philosophy by Charles Griswold, Jr. High school teachers examine the legacy of Plato's philosophy.

The Humanities and Sociology Poland's Informal Economy by Joseph H. Brown. How informal networks shape the economy in a socialist system. Religious Resurgence in East and Southeast Asia by Susan Burnam. An international conference to examine the growth of religious movements in Asia. Buying and Selling Contemporary Art by Nancy Becker. Exploring the interaction between aesthetic appreciation and financial value in the art market.

Features George Caleb Bingham: Missouri Painter by Susan R. Goodman. The life and work of one of America's best narrative painters. The Novels of Charles Brockden Brown by Jennifer Newton. Reevaluating the reputation of America's first professional novelist. Searching for Universals at Home by Thomas D'Evelyn. The annotated collection of the poems of William Carlos Williams. Revamping the Humanities at Community Colleges by Ellen Marsh. Exposure to the humanities enlarges students' horizons. Humanities after School. Five achievers describe the value of an undergraduate humanities degree. The Humanities Guide Right Job, Wrong Tool: What a Challenge Grant Is Not, by Harold C anno n, 43/ 1988 NEH Challenge Grants by Discipline, 44/ Deadlines, 46 The Seventeenth Jefferson Lecturer in the Humanities

THE ASCENDANCY OF IDEAS

BY CAROLINE TAYLOR

OBERT NISBET is outrageous. rather than lose him altogether. His among others, the University of R A scholar who has lectured and department was small and built Bologna in Italy, Princeton Univer­ written extensively on the history largely around his own scholarly in­ sity, Smith College, and the Univer­ and philosophy of political and so­ terests—comparative civilizations, sity of Arizona. cial thought, Nisbet finds virtue in major ideas in Western history, In 1974 Nisbet was appointed Al­ prejudice, decadence in democracy, change and progress. He was a fas­ bert Schweitzer Professor of the Hu­ injustice in equality. Some might cinating mind; I was his final Ph.D. manities at Columbia University suggest that his is the work of a before his retirement in 1940." where he stayed until he retired male-centered, Euro-centered schol­ Nisbet stayed on at Berkeley as a from teaching after forty-two years. ar—a man whose entire notion of faculty member until 1953 when he He and his wife moved to Washing­ the decline of Western culture is transferred to the university's new ton, D.C., where he joined the ethnocentric. To that charge, he re­ Riverside campus as its first dean of American Enterprise Institute as first plies with vigor: "You're right!" liberal arts. 1953 also saw the pub­ a resident, then an adjunct scholar. A native of California, Robert lication of his first book, The Quest for Nisbet earned both his undergradu­ Community. THE VIRTUE OF PREJUDICE ate and graduate degrees from the All told, Nisbet spent forty years Robert Nisbet has devoted a lifetime University of California at Berkeley. at the University of California, ex­ to thinking about the ideas embod­ "A man named Frederick J. Teggart cept for three years in the army ied in words. In 1982 he wrote a got me interested in the history of during World War II where he philosophical dictionary that ranged, institutions and ideas," he says. served in the Pacific theater, and alphabetically, from abortion to wit. "Teggart had once been in the histo­ occasional visiting professorships at, He called the book Prejudices— "more ry department, but he clashed with in Burke's than in Mencken's sense." its chairman. The university let him Burke's idea of prejudice, wrote open a department of his own, Nisbet, extends beyond the com­ monly understood meaning to en­ compass the totality of knowing, un­ Caroline Taylor is assistant director of derstanding, and feeling experienced public affairs for publications and editor by human beings. Burke believed of Humanities. that reasoning based on logic alone

4 was of little use in human affairs be­ work all the way, and it left me feel­ novels, and poems are all cultural in­ cause people require the complete ing drained for a couple of years." ventions. The guild, village commu­ range of knowing that, in addition to nity, cooperative, and labor union pure logic, includes feelings, emo­ THE DECLINE OF CULTURE are all social inventions. Civilization tions, and long experience. "Preju­ is built of inventions, and its great Our civilization has entered a dice," said Burke, "is of ready appli­ epochs are the ages in which cultur­ "twilight age," says Nisbet, an age cation in the emergency; it previous­ al, social, and mechanical inventions characterized by the decline of social ly engages the mind in a steady are especially rife. The concept of institutions and the growth of cen­ course of wisdom and virtue, and political, social, and cultural in­ tralized political power. In The Quest does not leave the man hesitating in ventions by individuals and groups for Community, Nisbet argues that the the moment of decision, skeptical, helps relieve the murkiness (and its centralization of political power and puzzled, and unresolved." metaphoric character) of most of our the widespread bureaucratization of It is in this spirit that Nisbet made ideas of change and development." function and authority that accom­ his pronouncements on topics rang­ In Twilight of Authority, Nisbet pany it have created an age of spir­ ing from bureaucracy—"Children of claims that the Western political itual insecurity, alienation, and pre­ the bureaucratic welfare state, the community, after more than two occupation with human identity. He countless recipients of bureaucratic hundred years of ascendancy, has examines the forces that have made aid, have come, in true Freudian begun to break down. In his view, the problem of community para­ fashion, to hate their father. How our sense of patriotism has eroded, mount in literature, sociology, phi­ that love-hate relation will be re­ our political ideology is in decline, losophy, and human behavior. Only solved is one of the more interesting and our political parties are on their prospects of the next half-cen- last legs. All of these have set the tury."— to isms—"The language is by stage for the uncontrolled growth of this time so decimated of the rich executive power. abundance of the concrete and indi­ "There are lots of signs of cultural vidual which it had through the decline around us," he says. "Any eighteenth century and so clogged culture that puts a premium on mini­ by isms, all so much alike as to be malism and deconstruction, on nar­ more and more difficult to identify, cissism and solipsism, and on the that only those who become masters occult as our culture does right now of ism—ismasters—can be relied is assuredly not on the upswing." upon to lead the language into the Warning that "in twilight ages, ac­ next century."—to tyranny— "The in­ tion is king," Nisbet recommends stitutional buttresses [against tyran­ the adoption of a policy of laissez- ny] of genuine democracy either faire with the primary objective of have never existed, do not now exist, stimulating social inventions. "They or are in process of erosion and dis­ are taking place right now," he integration. The result is a failure of claims. "Social inventions range nerve on the part of majorities that from car pools to book clubs to mu­ makes the advent of the tyrant tual funds. But social inventions, welcome." decentralization and pluralism, he like all forms of individual initiative, Out of the twenty or more books writes, can create an atmosphere in need open spaces. Our political bu­ written by Nisbet in almost as many which forms of community can be reaucracy has become so large, years, there are five or six that he be­ invented that are characterized by monopolistic, and enveloping that lieves have had some influence on the diversity and multiplicity neces­ these open spaces are harder and the study of social thought: The sary to guarantee their members' harder to find." Quest for Community (Oxford Univer­ freedom from absolute power. Open spaces cannot exist without sity Press, 1953), The Sociological Tra­ "It occurred to me some years respect for tradition. And yet, be­ dition (Basic Books, 1966), Social ago," he says, "that we make a mis­ cause our democratic society arose Change and History (Oxford Univer­ take in thinking only of the mechan­ through the overthrow of tradition, sity Press, 1969), Twilight of Authority ical and physical when the word in­ Americans tend to be antitraditional. (Oxford University Press, 1975), His­ vention comes up. Epics, ballads, The point at which this becomes tory of the Idea of Progress (Basic dangerous, says Nisbet, is when, Books, 1980), and Prejudices: A Philo­ having lost respect for the past, we sophical Dictionary (Harvard Univer­ find ourselves unable to understand sity Press, 1982). "The last is the one the present or to imagine the future. I most enjoyed writing," he says, "although by its nature it was hard

5 THE IDEA OF PROGRESS Nisbet believes that the idea of of Minnesota Press, 1986), Nisbet ex­ progress has suffered in the twen­ amined the sources, dogmatics, and One of Nisbet's major works is his tieth century from a loss of belief in consequences of conservatism. Here History of the Idea of Progress in which the premises on which it is based. he asserted his belief in the "inher­ he warned that the idea of prog­ We have lost a sense of the sacred; ent and absolute incompatibility be­ ress—that human beings have ad­ we no longer respect the past; the tween liberty and equality." Pointing vanced in the past, are now advanc­ West has been displaced as a domi­ out that the two values are incom­ ing, and will continue to advance nant culture in the minds of many of patible because their objectives are through the future—is in danger of what Nisbet refers to as "guilt- contrary, Nisbet wrote, "The abiding disappearing from Western ridden, apologetic liberals"; and purpose of liberty is its protection of consciousness: there is a growing hostility toward individual and family property—a If the idea of progress finally expires in further economic growth, which word used in its widest sense to in­ the United States, leaving it to the Soviet stems from ideas that some of the re­ clude the immaterial as well as the Union's Marxist catechism, we'll find sults of that growth have not been material in life. The inherent objec­ ourselves, for awhile no doubt, even good for the middle class. Yet the tive of equality, on the other hand, is more in drift than we are now. That idea idea of progress can be revived if be­ that of some kind of redistribution or and the ethic of hard, conscientious lief in those premises is revived. leveling of the unequally shared ma­ work have gone together in Western, es­ "I don't know whether a genuine terial and immaterial values of a pecially American, civilization. But Clio abhors a vacuum, and I imagine that the religious revival would help turn the community." decadent into the progressive," he says. "The idea of progress can't be supported on the grounds of sheer reason and history. The idea, or belief in progress, has required a pre- rational foundation. If I am right, this suggests a religious underpin­ ning such as the idea of progress had from Hesiod through St. Au­ gustine down through history to the Founding Fathers. The Western idea of progress through most of its long history depended on two things: a belief in Providence (or some surro­ gate like the Dialectic or Manifest Destiny) and also, just as important, a belief in the rewards of hard work and unending individual initiative. "The glitzy, bogus millennialism and egocentric born-again fervor of extraordinary mixture of peoples and current evangelicalism have nothing It is not legal equality that Nisbet idea systems taking place right now in to offer of any long-run worth. I just criticizes. In fact, he finds no incom­ this country would in due time energize don't know whether there is any­ patibility between individual free­ America again. thing in the offing to suggest a re­ dom and equality before the law— We still spin our wheels and adopt every possible means, from lack of sav­ vival of the once-powerful ethic of that is, justice. "Where incompatibil­ ings to wanton takeovers, to keep eco­ work and advancement. Arthur ity begins to rear its head," he warns, nomic growth and productivity down. Guiterman, back in the 1920s, I think "is when the rage to equality begins Maybe with all the immigration from the it was, offered up a prayer to Provi­ to envelop what are called life- Orient we'll acquire something of the dence, 'that looks out for children, opportunities, conditions of life, and Confucian ethic to replace the belief in fools, drunkards, and the United amounts of wealth. But, as Burke progress. We could do a lot worse. States of America.'" (See also said, legislatures can level a popula­ "History and the Idea of Progress," tion, but they can't equalize it." at page 8.) Nisbet worries that we have turned our fascination with equality THE INJUSTICE IN EQUALITY Throughout his writing, Nisbet has elucidated the fundamental themes of conservatism: tradition, property, religion, authority, history, and liber­ ty. In his most recent book, Conser­ vatism: Dream and Reality (University

6 into a type of crusade that regards Nisbet selected five ideas—commu­ Nisbet does not find this iconic with suspicion every kind of social nity, authority, status, the sacred, imagination on the American univer­ differentiation, every talent, every and alienation—that form the nu­ sity campus. In the aftermath of privilege. "Equality has such a hold cleus of the sociological tradition. World War II, the universities ne­ on the American mind that every Drawing from the writings of glected teaching, and dubious sub­ major achiever seems to feel he has Tocqueville, Simmel, Weber, Durk- stitutes for the curriculum appeared. to take on an 'aw shucks' manner heim, Marx, Rousseau, and other "The hard things got thrown out in and actually be apologetic," he com­ major social scientists of the nine­ favor of the soft things," says Nisbet. plains. "Tocqueville, following Pas­ teenth century, Nisbet attempted to "Under the Great Ooze of general cal, said it's a very good thing to be set forth what is conceptually funda­ education plus the advent of en­ born with a mind of quality. It's a mental and historically distinctive in counter sessions miscalled seminars clear gain of twenty years in life. the tradition. and built around 'Great Books,' the Why neutralize it? When equality of "Community-society, authority- sole requirement being to read and condition is a dogma, as it is in our power, status-class, and sacred- tell, the authority of the university, country today, it can—and does— secular all have vitality so long as the particularly its faculty, began to work against diversity, pluralism, substantive equivalents have reality disappear." heterogeneity, and individual effort." and relevance," he concludes. Yet This was succeeded by the "anti- the movements that have given these nomian bust of the sixties" which THE UNIT IDEAS OF ideas their meaning may have reached its height—or depth—with SOCIOLOGY the Berkeley Free Speech Move­ Much of what has been written on ment. Both the humanities and the the history of thought approaches social sciences became victims of this the subject either through the antinomianism, says Nisbet. To thinkers themselves or through the smash symbols of authority and tra­ schools or systems associated with dition was the epidemic aspiration. those individuals. Nisbet has taken a "Side by side with antinomian ni­ third approach, following the model hilism was the liberal panacea of Big of Arthur Lovejoy's The Great Chain of Government," says Nisbet. "They Being. This approach begins not with complemented each other nicely." the thinker or the system but with Nisbet acknowledges that there the ideas that form the elements of are, of course, exceptions: "Today, the system. Rather than examining there are tall trees to be seen in aca­ Bentham and Mill or studying utili­ deme, but also great expanses of tarianism, for example, one looks at dwarfed shrubs, porous soil, poison the unit-ideas that constitute the sys­ ivy, and pure weeds." tem of utilitarianism. By unearthing In all of Nisbet's writing, the biting the fundamental unit-ideas, says commentary, the incisive wit, and Nisbet, "we see not only the compo­ the outrageousness are vehicles for a message that there is danger—dan­ nent elements but also new group­ reached a stage where only expan­ ger in losing respect for the past, in ings and relationships of men and sion—not further development—is failing to examine the premises on ideas; we see affinities, but also op­ possible. What matters, says Nisbet, which our society is based, and in positions, that we should not have is the continuing viability of the con­ abandoning the idea of individual supposed to exist." cepts that form the sociological tradi­ work and progress—especially in Nisbet applied this approach in tion. These must remain viable until twilight ages where action is king. ^ The Sociological Tradition (Basic Books, a new idea system emerges: 1966), a comprehensive examination If such a new idea system does appear, of the conceptual framework of mod­ to give new life and impetus to the real­ ern sociology. For his examination, ities of contemporary Western society, it will not be the consequence of methodol­ ogy, much less of computers, of mass data gathering and retrieval, or of prob­ lem definition however rigorous, or re­ search design however aseptic. It will be the consequence, rather, of intellectual processes which the scientist shares with the artist: iconic imagination, aggressive intuition, each given discipline by reason and root by reality.

7 Photos Library of Congress HI STORY Y ETUE HIMMELFARB GERTRUDE BY or 'torrent' that has carried man's virtues as well as his vices his as well as virtues man's carried has that 'torrent' or on hog time."—R.N. through down H ies h rwhaddvlpeto akn oa ‘river’ a to mankind of development and growth the likens "He AUGUSTINE and the Idea of Progress of Idea the and 8

The New History and the Old, Old, the and History New The in title same the of chapter a from printed sity Press, 1987). In this essay Him­ essay this In 1987). Press, sity Ed. note: The following excerpts are re­ are excerpts following The note: Ed. Robert Nisbet in his in Nisbet Robert by expressed ideas the discusses melfarb Univer­ (Harvard Himmelfarb Gertrude be put to the most grotesque use; use; grotesque most the to put be even pessimistic, A future. the less about still present, the about placency com­ any to us dispose hardly tury cen­ this of experiences The think. would one reason, good with And now. time long a for disrepute in Progress of Idea has an inverse relationship to the the to relationship inverse an has sometimes prosperity material that may discoveries scientific impressive most the that pain great at learned has which generation a to rally natu­ more comes view apocalyptic, T book. his benign governments succumb to the the to succumb governments benign takenfrom also are captions photo The lems as it solves; that even the most most the even that solves; it as lems prob­ many as create may policy so­ cial generous a that life"; of "quality dead weight of bureaucracy while while bureaucracy of weight dead ity, fraternity, justice, even peace— peace— even justice, fraternity, ity, equal­ principles—liberty, most our that cherished . . . tyranny; of means horrendous and new devising in ingenious are ones benign least the in ways our forefathers never forefathers our ways in have been perverted and degraded degraded and perverted been have fessor of history at the City University of University City the at history of fessor e ok Gaut colad University and School Graduate York, New -pro­ distinguished is Himmelfarb Gertrude on the Humanities. the on Council National the of member a and Center, ress with a capital capital a with ress Progress—Prog­ OF IDEA HE BscBos 1980). Books, (Basic History of the the of History P —has been been —has by

blighted hopes, irreconcilable dilem­ irreconcilable hopes, blighted a, oditnin oeata, a astray, gone intentions good mas, promises, shattered with confronted are we point every At of. dreamed brace. And we are being urged to do to urged being are we And brace. disaster—all of brink the on perched world a evils, between choice invited to contemplate and to em­ to and contemplate to invited lie the give to seem which and true too all are which cliches, familiar the William James made much of the dis­ the of much made James William them. about think to how us taught but experiences dismal these shared only not has who man a ophers, philos­ social major our of one by so progress. of idea the to born, self-conscious and self-critical, self-critical, and self-conscious born, and God beneficent a in faith having once-born, the "twice-born": the and "once-born" the between tinction acutely aware of the potentiality for for potentiality the of aware acutely mystery, tragic a as life experiencing twice- the universe; harmonious a healthy-minded, innocent, simple, knows all that can be known about about known be can that all knows He man. twice-born the eminently pre­ is Nisbet Robert it. overcome to required effort heroic the of and evil ideas. His work has taken him into into him taken has work His ideas. grand of simplicities treacherous the three distinct disciplines, and from from and disciplines, distinct three rian's for the uniqueness of historical historical of uniqueness the for rian's histo­ the society, of complexities les­ critical the learned has he each zations. Yet it is the largest, most most largest, the is it Yet zations. generali­ of wary him made has Each formulas. easy to ideas of ducibility irre- the for philosopher's the events, the for respect sociologist's the son: ety through all of history, that he he that history, of all through ety a generalizations, all of ambitious now asks us to entertain: "The idea idea "The entertain: to us asks now soci­ of all encompassing idea single aboriginal condition of primitive- of condition aboriginal some past—from the in advanced has mankind that holds progress of Yet it is just this idea that we are we that idea this just is it Yet ness, barbarism, or even nullity—is the reversal of the conventional in­ now advancing, and will continue to terpretation of the Renaissance and advance, through the foreseeable the Reformation. future." Recalling Samuel Johnson's para­ phrase of a chapter of The Natural History of Iceland— "There are no OR NISBET, the idea [of prog­ snakes to be met with throughout F ress] existed in a complete and the whole of Iceland"—Nisbet pro­ mature form in antiquity as well as nounces a similar unequivocal judg­ in the Middle Ages; and far from ment on the Renaissance: "Nor are seeing the earlier idea as a weak ap­ there any ideas of progress to be met proximation of the later, he inter­ with throughout the whole Renais­ prets the later, Enlightenment idea sance." After a brief discussion of in terms of the earlier one. some "crosscurrents" of the Renais­ The longest and most provocative sance, represented by Machiavelli, section [of Nisbet's book] is on Au­ Erasmus, More, Bacon, and Des­ gustine. Aware of just how provoca­ cartes, Nisbet turns with obvious re­ tive it is, Nisbet discusses those lief to the Reformation— "The Great ideas in The City of God that would Renewal," as he is pleased to call it, seem to belie the theory of progress: a renewal of the idea of progress and the stages of history corresponding with it, not by accident, of religion. to the ages of man and concluding DESCARTES It is at this point that one can be­ with decay and death, and the uni­ gin to appreciate the larger revi­ "Descartes could not bring himself to admire versal conflagration that would pre­ sionist enterprise in which Nisbet is even the ancient Greeks and Romans, and cede universal redemption. In spite engaged—the revision not only of such admiration, as we have seen, is close to of this eschatology, Nisbet finds in the received wisdom about indi­ the core of the Renaissance. But even closer Augustine the "vital, essential ele­ vidual thinkers and movements of . . . is that belief in the superiority of the sub­ ments of the Western idea of thought but of the idea of progress jective imagination over anything that has progress": itself. His initial definition of prog­ been inherited from, or that has developed ress sounds innocent enough: "Man­ and unfolded from, the past."—R.N. Mankind or the human race; the unfold­ ing, cumulative advancement of man­ kind has advanced in the past, . . . is kind, materially and spiritually through now advancing, and will continue to time; a single time frame into which all advance through the foreseeable fu­ the civilizations, cultures, and peoples ture." Nor is there anything startling which have ever existed on earth, or in his description of the two lines of now exist, can be compressed; the idea advance: the gradual, cumulative im­ of time as a unilinear flow; the concep­ provement in knowledge; and the tion of stages and epochs, each reflected realization on earth of man's spir­ by some historic civilization or group of itual, moral, and material aspira­ civilizations or a level of cultural devel­ tions. But as soon as he enters the opment; the conception of social reform classical and Christian worlds, the rooted in historical awareness; the belief in the necessary character of history and conventional picture fades and the in the inevitability of some future end or lineaments of Nisbet's distinctive objective; the idea of conflict of cities, na­ idea of progress begin to emerge. tions, and classes as the motor spring of Knowledge, we are told, had an the historical process; and finally, the important practical, even technologi­ raptured picture of the future, set by Au­ cal, dimension from the beginning. gustine in the psychological, cultural, This-worldly concerns were promi­ and economic terms which would re­ nent even when the ultimate goal main the essential terms of nearly all was other-worldly. The spirit of so­ utopias in later centuries: affluence, se­ cial reform inspired even the at­ curity, equity, freedom, and tranquility. tempts to reform the church. And And justice! MARX Christian millenarianism, combined "Different though the outcome in Tocque- This is no pallid progressivism. It with the ancient idea of develop­ ville's and Marx's predictions, they are the is the full-blooded variety we have ment, made for a unilinear idea of result of precisely the same method: seizing come to associate with the En­ progress in which past, present, and upon some seemingly dominant aspect of the lightenment. . . . The shadow of future were inextricably connected. present and then projecting it into the Augustine hovers behind the entire The Renaissance, in denying its own future."—R.N. book, throwing into relief a variety immediate past and demeaning it as of later figures, and in the process the Dark Ages, broke the chain of fleshing out Augustine himself. It is progress. Without the commitment his ghostly presence that helps ex­ to the past there was no warrant for plain some of the other revisionist progress in the future; all that re­ highlights of the book—most notably mained were cycles of rise and de-

9 10

Photos Library of Congress outlined in detail, that he declared geniuses declared he that detail, in outlined had Comte that kind the progress, historical must be considered secondary to nonindivid­ to secondary considered be must toward the progress of society." of progress the toward operating processes collective or social, ual, "So devoted was Mill to the to Mill was devoted "So grace, upon individual thought as alone pro­ alone as thought individual upon grace, stress upon chance and fortune." and chance upon stress Machiavellian as mankind of progress the theory of a to antagonistic as is good, of ductive “Erasmus's emphasis upon inner individual inner upon “Erasmus'semphasis MILL ERASMUS general general — R.N. — R.N. laws of laws

and redemption only in the inner inner the in only redemption and a to led doctrine and thority, au­ tradition, of rejection The cline. fortune" thus replaced "reason and and "reason replaced thus or fortune" "Fate devil. the and magic, craft, witch­ occult, the with fascination a in manifested irrationality of eties vari­ to and man, of consciousness reality find could that subjectivism lightenment witnessed the triumph triumph the witnessed lightenment En­ the that pronouncement Nisbet's less no is history later the reading, this by altered much is progress earth. on lot man's determining forces the as probity" from any reliance upon providence. providence. upon reliance any from liberated progress a form, larized secu­ its in progress of idea the of in familiarity deceptive a is There so. in its most orthodox forms. And, And, forms. orthodox most its in provi­ in believe fact in did who those progress of idea the of nents propo­ the and Enlightenment the of leaders the among includes he But in this modern period. He has no has He period. modern this in lies the conventional image of ra­ of image conventional the lies religious a with imbued were creeds scientific secular, more the even that insists he significantly, more it in believed who those even dence, tor among a wide variety of thinkers: thinkers: of variety wide a among tor denomina­ common the as progress of idea the establishing in difficulty tionalism and secularism. and tionalism be­ that sacred, the of idea an spirit, narians, individualists and socialists, socialists, and individualists narians, mille- and reformers revolutionists, and evolutionists positivists, and romantics idealists, and materialists lies in respecting their differences, differences, their respecting in lies challenge The scientists. and poets anthropologists, and economists ideas of progress, while preserving preserving while progress, of ideas their affected vitally that differences the identity of the idea itself. idea the of identity the groups: those who saw progress as progress saw who those groups: major two between distinguishing power. The "progress-as-freedom" "progress-as-freedom" The power. of attainment the for means the as it saw who those and freedom, of achievement the for means the The "progress-as-power" group in­ group "progress-as-power" The Spencer. Mill, Kant, Godwin, thers, Fa­ Founding the Malthus, Smith, Condorcet, Turgot, includes school Saint-Simon, Comte, Marx, Marx, Comte, Saint-Simon, Hegel, Fichte, Rousseau, cludes rence, of the second. Yet in both he both in Yet second. the of rence, and group first the for preference his of secret no makes Nisbet Gobineau. his wariness, in some cases abhor­ cases some in wariness, his If the early history of the idea- the of of history early the If It is a perilous path Nisbet treads treads Nisbet path perilous a is It Nisbet copes with this problem by by problem this with copes Nisbet O and a blacklist. a and categories two the that so criticize, to as well as praise to much finds do not correspond to an honor roll honor an to correspond not do ual and the state. Nisbet himself himself Nisbet state. the and ual individ­ the between mediate which institutions of multiplicity and tality vi­ the on depends liberty that fact the appreciate to helps— it although tween liberal and authoritarian phi­ authoritarian and liberal tween cri­ one only were there if family; the a of test crucial the as proposed once which they supported or subverted subverted or supported they towhich degree the be would it losophies, be­ distinguish to which by terion toward attitude its philosophy social tpaimisl ht fnly mili­ finally, that, itself utopianism is it For ones. progress-as-power the as noxious as are utopias as-freedom progress- the test, that By family. the bination of these—makes it all too too all it these—makes of bination than less anything making utopia, of short achieved be can that ress prog­ of kind any belittles only not utopia a of ideal The freedom. for required pluralism the against tates liberty, absolute virtue, or any com­ any or virtue, absolute liberty, absolute reason, absolute of form the in idea—whether that of pursuit the but evil, radically seem perfection power. absolute of use the justify to easy hti dneosi a utopianism a is dangerous is dangerous; what is that not itself is it that utopianism suggests This other­ worldly. avowedly is that re­ a is one ligious perversion fatal this capes The religious imagination at its best its at imagination religious The its ideal, ultimate its locates that is able to retain the spark of divinity, of spark the retain to able is dream of perfection, in this world. this in perfection, of dream in wtot ekn o elz i on it realize to seeking perfec­ of without vision tion, transcendent the littling those ideals that are located are that ideals those littling important an to testifying such are have ideals, to not spir­ it debilitating find who itually world, the in odem m ideals deplore absolute of lack who the Utopians Those earth. that the ideals are not real unless real not are ideals insisting the in that spirit, of realm the in be­ in But nature. an hum about truth ity of the spiritual aspect of human of aspect spiritual real­ the the of belie ity ­ Utopians tem the world, poral transform and infuse they n ytyn o aete a real­ a them make to trying value. by And professedly they that nature ity in the here and now, they lend they now, and here the in ity hmevs oa rtsu perversion grotesque a to themselves The only kind of utopia that es­ that utopia of kind only The NE DOES not have to be an ad­ an be to have not DOES NE mirer of Burke or Tocqueville— Tocqueville— or Burke of mirer

Courtesy Independence National Historic Park ussron h wds oac Gus- monarch Swedish the surround Huss —R.N. further still they were so sciences, and arts in by faith intoxicated further were century re­ the "As Lutheran. a Adolphus, tavus Luther, Martin Bugenhagen, Johann Calvin, John Philip-p Melanchthon, right): to (left intoxicated by a confidence in progress as a as progress in confidence a by intoxicated ligiously intoxicated minds of the seventeenth the of minds intoxicated ligiously Reformation Protestant the of Theologians universal law in mankind's history. mankind's in law universal John and Zwingli, Ulrich Hutten, von Ulrich progress, with America in the vanguard, the in America with progress, of and humanity, for time of lengths vast over progress past of conviction their in emphatic through a long future. "--R.N. future. long a through "The greatest of the Founding Fathers were Fathers Founding the of greatest "The H REFORMATION THE MADISON

..."

enu nte other. the in lennium this world and the idea of the mil­ the of idea the in and world progress of this idea the both en­ to compass imagination a takes religious It subtle themselves. ideals the of sgets nteWs—eiin sci­ West—religion, the in greatest is time is at once tribute to the great­ the to tribute once at own is one's time in does belief one the what in that deeply so and grounded is arts, on— the jus­ philosophy, equality, tice, freedom, reason, ence, that all of history "The important: so eif bu nvre wrd soci­ world, universe, about beliefs for progress lies in the individual individual the in lies required is progress that for all that argued, be continues, he might It more future." ever an in golden confidence the and of past, indispensability and ness actions. But this view he rejects: he view this and But actions. aspirations, will, his in alone, I ma. It is this dogma that has permit­ has that dogma this dog­ a is It such ma. is progress short. of in idea as" The "dogm in ex- rational pections"— defy which man and ety, in part most the for lie ambition, and of the present and a tragic portent of of portent tragic a and facts present the ominous of most the of one dogma is this that of waning it the and heights has, the attain to West the ted will, action, human of springs "The h future. the point is the idea of progress used to used progress of idea no the At is point metahistory. in exercise classic Progress of Idea the of History or varifiable. It is as he had earlier earlier had he as is It varifiable. demonstrable or empirically pre­ be it to does tend Nor events. of se­ or quence complex any even or event historical particular any explain lies the difference between between difference here the And lies metaphor. is a It however, dogma. a not, idea, an it: described Idea of Progress. of Idea ok teie fpors a some­ was progress of idea the book, Change and History and Change be distanced from it—hence, it—hence, from distanced be a at keep to all, at if circumspection, use, with to of, wary be to thing earlier the In "affect." and dissimilar intent quite in although consistent, ialize it). In the later book, the idea idea the book, later the In it). ialize (and reality from divorce its phasize to had itself history as distance, safe idea and invested with the power of power the with an invested as and status idea its to restored been has triv­ and belittle to perhaps, also, em­ to term literary a etaphor," "m plains why the idea of progress is is progress of idea the why ex­ plains Nisbet introduction HIS N They are entirely entirely are They and and History of the of History is a pure, pure, a is Social

lightenment had become pervert­ become had En­ the of lightenment ideals the how plained twist. ironic In an them given has that individual, reason in a "rationaliza­ a in the reason of isolation" individual, "morbid ass," a m in the by liberty imposed in "tyranny resulted a had democracy how ed— Tocqueville, Burckhardt, Weber, Weber, Burckhardt, Tocqueville, "sterile in secularism spirit," of tion I Durkheim, and the others in the the in others the and Durkheim, Burke, distressed so perver­ had this that was It sion ent." disenchantm vatives in their general distrust of mod­ of distrust general their in vatives conser­ the with beginning see, we What progress. of of theory skeptical any so them and made had that tradition," "sociological great society. of the to well-being essential dogma a dogma— a but from the very substance of history, of substance very the from but factors, fortuitous or extraneous from not future, the of forecast melancholy its draws that view a is It perspective. time in life ofset view tragic the is ernism, had hailed as promising liberationand promising as hailed had rationalists the that forces very the from history is conceived as being periodically being as conceived is history ress argued—automatically resolve them­ resolve argued—automatically ress view this In reason. of empire new the not—as the thinkers of inexorable prog­ inexorable of thinkers the not—as do which crises moral deep by seized periodically assailed us, a crisis so so crisis a us, has assailed that crises" periodically moral "deep those salvation. secular of hopes man's mock and haunt to instead remain but selves Western civilization. In this situation situation this In of civilization. end the Western signal may it that deep and despair" (one can go on with with on go can (one despair" disillusionment, and doubt, "disbelief, of versity Press from from Press versity Uni­ Harvard of permission by Reprinted our for disrespect a we what achieved, with have discontent a our­ of selves, distrust a negatives— those rsdn n elw fHrad College. Harvard of Fellows and President the by 1987 © Himmelfarb. Gertrude ment of our culture), Nisbet calls for for calls Nisbet culture), our debase­ of a ment institutions, and principles the Old: Critical Essays and Reappraisals, and Essays Critical Old: the in ourselves— which is to say, in our our in say, to is which faith our ourselves— in reaffirm to as faith our future the signify in to much per­ so not progress, haps of idea the to return a prevent ourselves from being en­ being from we ourselves can prevent continuity that re­ by Only establishing present. and past own that is not our future at all. all. at future our future" not is the of that "wave new a by gulfed We are now witnessing one of of one witnessing now are We The Sociological Tradition Sociological The who Nisbet much so NOT IS T has changed his views as history history as views his changed has The New History and History New The he ex­ he r u

by

11 TOCQUEVILLE and the Dangers of Democracy

BY WILLIAM A. SCHAMBRA

HE CURE FOR the ills of de­ political rights; for him, "the particu­ T mocracy is more democracy." lar and predominating fact of [demo­ This familiar slogan from the Pro­ cratic] ages" was, above all, equality gressive Era of U.S. politics contin­ of conditions. Such equality is per­ ues to reflect the sentiment of most haps most readily understood by Americans today: Democracy, we be­ contrast to the inequality of condi­ lieve, is good, and more is better. tions that had prevailed in the pre­ Throughout the rest of the world, as vious, and rapidly disappearing, well, this form of government is held aristocratic age. In that earlier peri­ in high esteem. Even the most op­ od, people had been distributed pressive totalitarian regimes do it along a finely articulated hierarchy honor by calling themselves democ­ of superiors and inferiors by heredi­ racies or people's republics. tary and seemingly permanent dis­ We tend, of course, to dismiss tinctions of status and rank. Society such self-descriptions as cynical ex­ itself was characterized by a great propriations of an otherwise noble ti­ multiplicity of classes, castes, guilds, h Nw ok ulc irr Aeia Atqain Society Antiquarian American Library Public York NewThe tle. It might, therefore, come as an great families, and other indepen­ unpleasant surprise to learn that dent centers of authority. Alexis de Tocqueville, one of the In the new democratic age, how­ foremost students of modern democ­ ever, all such distinctions and in­ racy, believed that it could, in fact, equalities were to disappear. Individ­ assume a totalitarian form. Indeed, uals were to become more and more he believed that democratic social equal in all important respects—not conditions were more likely to pro­ only in political and legal rights, but duce totalitarian regimes than free in education, wealth, and social ones. Historians, sociologists, phi­ standing as well. The fixed, aristo­ losophers, and political theorists cratic hierarchy would be shattered, have written extensively on the dem­ to be replaced by a vast, level plain ocratic/egalitarian and totalitarian of fundamentally equal individuals. tendencies of populism and fascism Tocqueville believed that much in the twentieth century. However, it good would come of the new demo­ is well worth our efforts to under­ cratic age. Laws would inevitably stand why Tocqueville believed this "tend toward the good of the great­ and how, in his view, America had est number" and so be more bene­ managed to blunt democracy's po­ ficial to humanity. Such laws would tential for totalitarianism and en­ be obeyed more readily, thus making hance its potential for freedom. society more stable. More important, According to Tocqueville's analysis however, democratic conditions in Democracy in America, democracy would unleash tremendous quan­ was, in the 1830s, well on its way to tities of human energy, thereby viv­ the universal acceptance and esteem ifying and improving society in gen­ it enjoys today. By democracy, how­ eral. Emancipated from the fixed ever, he meant far more than the stations of the prior age, individuals rule of the majority or equality of would seek to acquire especially the tangible, material goods unavailable to them before. Prodigious industrial William Schambra is codirector of con­ expansion would be the conse­ stitutional studies at the American quence. "Restless activity, super­ Enterprise Institute. abundant force, and energy" were,

12 systematic eradication of all indepen­ dent sources of social authority. Sad­ ly enough, Tocqueville suggested, such efforts are likely to be ap­ plauded, rather than resisted, by a democratic people. Democracy breeds among its subjects a particu­ larly virulent form of envy that leads people to resent—and to seek to eliminate—any distinctions or in­ equalities, no matter how minor, within society. Therefore, "the ever fiercer fires of endless hatred felt by democracies against the slightest privileges singularly favors the grad­ ual concentration of all political rights in those hands which alone represent the state." Although Tocqueville maintained that such a harsh and violent form of democratic despotism is possible in the new age (indeed, one is tempted to see a version of it prevailing with­ in our foremost international adver­ sary), he nevertheless suggested that another, subtler form of tyranny is more likely. This form is so subtle The first edition of Tocqueville's Democracy in America appeared a few years before the "log that the old words despotism and tyr­ cabin and hard cider" campaign of 1840 between William Henry Harrison and Martin Van anny do not adequately define it, and Buren. That election was notable for its use of campaign songs, slogans, and party insignia. so he set about to describe it. To understand this altogether new Tocqueville maintained, the true ad­ and equality may seem to us to be form of what others have come to vantages of democracy. synonymous with freedom, the call soft tyranny, it is necessary to re­ Democracy would, he believed, ominous fact, according to Tocque­ turn to a consideration of the human exact a price for these advantages. ville, was that they could as readily condition in the new age, as con­ For example, literature, the fine arts, lead to tyranny—and, in fact, a tyr­ trasted to the old. In the aristocratic and non-utilitarian intellectual en­ anny far worse than any to be found age, the social hierarchy provided deavors in general would suffer dra­ in the old aristocratic age. In that strong links among individuals; matically. The aristocratic classes that earlier age, the great families, walled thus, "people living in an aristocratic had appreciated and sustained such cities, guilds, and the church neces­ age are almost always deeply in­ endeavors in the past were now sarily had restricted the amount of volved with something outside gone. Furthermore, the generally power wielded by the central gov­ themselves." In the age of equality, materialistic tenor of the new society erning authority. The king's writ ran those social bonds are destroyed, would actively discourage cultivation only as far as the nobleman's moat. and what Tocqueville described as of the arts and humanities. "A Thus, in "an aristocracy the people individualism comes to prevail in­ breathless cupidity perpetually dis­ are always defended from the ex­ stead. Individualism "disposes each tracts the mind of man from the cesses of despotism, for there are al­ citizen to isolate himself from the pleasures of the imagination and the ways organized forces ready to resist mass of his fellows and withdraw labors of the intellect and urges it on a despot." into the circle of family and friends." to nothing but the pursuit of In the new age of equality, the in­ This tendency to turn inward is rein­ wealth," Tocqueville observed. Dem­ dependent sources of resistance to forced by the materialistic pursuits ocratic peoples would cultivate only despotism disappeared. Nothing in which individuals are engaged; "those arts which help make life stood between the central govern­ they are "petty aims, but the soul comfortable rather than those which ment, "which has inherited all the clings to them . . . [and] in the end, adorn it." In a society characterized prerogatives snatched from families, they shut out the rest of the world." by the endless pursuit of wealth, corporations, and individuals" and Individualistic, materialistic demo­ Tocqueville asked, "where is one to the level plain of equal—hence cratic citizens find it "an effort . . . to find the calm for the profound re­ equally powerless—individuals. tear themselves away from their pri­ searches of the intellect?" Tocqueville predicted that, without vate affairs and pay attention to The most serious problem posed the political breakwaters of aristocra­ those of the community; the natural by democracy and equality of condi­ cy, centralized tyranny would be­ inclination is to leave the only visible tions lay not in the intellectual but come more likely and more pervasive. and permanent representative of col­ rather in the political realm, wrote It is no accident that the first act of lective interests . . . the state, to look Tocqueville. Although democracy modern totalitarian regimes is the after them."

13 This the state is only too happy to Tocqueville insisted that his was a do. It absorbs more and more func­ book of hope, not of impending tions from society and soon "covers doom: "I am certainly not the one to the whole of social life with a net­ say that such [despotic] inclinations work of petty, complicated rules" are inevitable, for my chief aim in that does not "break men's will, but writing this book is to combat softens, bends, and guides it." As them." It remained an open ques­ opposed to the violent form of tyran­ tion, he argued, whether "equality is ny described earlier, this form "is not to lead to servitude or freedom!"; it at all tyrannical, but it hinders, re­ was precisely that question that had strains, enervates, and stultifies so led him to write a study of democ­ much that in the end each nation is racy in America, and not of democ­ no more than a flock of timid and racy as such. For America had ad­ hardworking animals with the gov­ "WHERE IS ONE vanced quite far along the road to ernment as its shepherd." TO FIND THE democracy without succumbing al­ This mild, bureaucratic despotism together to the atomistic individu­ CALM FOR THE is perfectly compatible with free alism, materialism, mediocrity, and democratic elections, Tocqueville in­ PROFOUND despotism usually accompanying sisted. Citizens simply "quit their RESEARCHES equality. America had lessons to state of dependence just long OF THE teach a world that would soon be in­ enough to choose their masters and INTELLECT?" undated by the democratic tide. then fall back into it." Indeed, elec­ The key to America's achievement, tions make the despotism that much according to Tocqueville, was its abil­ more secure: "Each individual lets ity to create democratic substitutes them put the collar on, for he sees for the diverse, independent centers that it is not a person, or a class of of allegiance and authority that had persons, but society itself which seemingly vanished forever, along holds the end of the chain." Unlike with the aristocracy. Foremost the previous tyrannies of one over among those substitutes were strong many, this might be described as a local government and communities tyranny of all over all. "A BREATHLESS and small public and private associa­ It must be emphasized that this CUPIDITY tions. The presence in America of a soft despotism is utterly benevolent; PERPETUALLY vast multiplicity of local communi­ "its power is orderly, provident, and DISTRACTS THE ties and associations means two mild." In the course of supplying MIND OF MAN things, he noted: First, those inde­ popular needs, the government FROM THE pendent centers of power form a lay­ makes it unnecessary for the people PLEASURES er of authority between the individual to band together in mutual endeavor OF THE and the central government and to supply those needs for them­ therefore serve as a democratic selves. However, it is precisely IMAGINATION breakwater against the power of that through such mutual endeavor, or AND THE government. the "reciprocal action of men one LABORS OF THE Second, and perhaps more impor­ upon another," that "feelings and INTELLECT AND tant, local governments and associa­ ideas are renewed, the heart en­ URGES IT ON TO tions draw people out of themselves, larged, and the understanding de­ NOTHING BUT persuading them to set aside at least veloped"—that is, that human THE PURSUIT OF momentarily their private, mate­ beings become human. The ultimate WEALTH." rialistic pursuits to become involved horror of the "orderly, gentle, peace­ in public affairs. There are in Amer­ ful slavery" that Tocqueville de­ ica "an infinite number of occasions scribed is that, acting purely in the for the citizens to act together," interests of the people, government Tocqueville wrote. When otherwise nonetheless denatures them, gradu­ isolated individuals are thus com­ ally reducing them to sub-human, pelled to deal with common prob­ asocial atoms who are content to glut lems in common, they learn to be­ their lives with petty materialistic come free, public-spirited citizens. pursuits. America's intermediate associations Gloomy prospects are therefore are therefore essential devices for opened for us by democracy and counteracting the individualism, ma­ equality in the new age. It is diffi­ terialism, and loss of humanity that cult, as we read Tocqueville's ac­ are at once the cause and conse­ count, not to glance about ourselves quence of the soft form of democratic at contemporary circumstances with tyranny. a new understanding and no little If Tocqueville maintained that it apprehension. Nevertheless, was possible to cultivate freedom

14 and avoid tyranny in the new age of Quest for Community, "The single equality, he nevertheless cautioned most impressive fact in the twentieth that it would be a profoundly diffi­ century . . . is the fateful combina­ cult enterprise. The idea of inter­ tion of widespread quest for commu­ mediate associations or of "second­ nity . . . and the apparatus of politi­ ary powers between the sovereign cal power that has become so vast in and his subjects," is utterly foreign contemporary democratic states." "to the minds of men in ages of Although the centralized political equality." Democratic peoples are community may succeed in over­ put off by such complicated systems coming the individualism and atom­ and prefer to "picture a great nation ism of modern egalitarian condi­ in which every citizen resembles one tions, Nisbet argued, it does so only "THE EVER set type and is controlled by one sin­ by swallowing individuals—by tak­ gle power." All currents of thought, FIERCER FIRES ing into its grasp and regimenting in feeling, and behavior in this age, he OF ENDLESS minute detail every aspect of their believed, would flow toward govern­ HATRED social, political, and even moral and ment centralization, always raising FELT BY emotional existence. The result is a the specter of despotism. The idea of DEMOCRACIES tyranny worse even than the one intermediate associations would re­ AGAINST THE Tocqueville feared most—a tyranny main a fragile conceptual flower in SLIGHTEST that would not be content to let its such times, and so freedom itself PRIVILEGES citizens idle away their lives in petty would enjoy but a precarious existence. pursuits but that would insist on ac­ SINGULARLY The difficulty of sustaining the tive devotion to and absorption FAVORS THE idea of intermediate associations within an omnicompetent political against the centralizing tendencies of GRADUAL community. democracy surely is evident in to­ CONCENTRATION According to Nisbet, freedom in day's climate of political opinion. OF ALL the modern era depends on a re­ Many contemporary American intel­ POLITICAL focusing of the quest for community lectuals—while they tend to share RIGHTS IN away from the central state back to­ Tocqueville's dim view of individu­ THOSE HANDS • ward intermediate associations. "It is alism and materialism—nonetheless WHICH ALONE the continued existence of this array do not join in his admiration of REPRESENT THE of intermediate powers in society, of "secondary bodies," or in his fear of STATE." this plurality of 'private sovereign­ central government. In fact, in their ties,' that constitutes, above any­ view, a powerful central govern­ thing else, the greatest single barrier ment, led by a dynamic articulate to the conversion of democracy from president, becomes the surest means its liberal form to its totalitarian to overcome that individualism and form," he wrote in Quest. materialism. Such a president, Nisbet believes that the problem of speaking from his bully pulpit, despotism in modern times is very would summon the people to put "IN COUNTRIES much as Tocqueville described it— aside private interests in the name of WHERE although now perhaps intensified by a greater national interest. Public ASSOCIATIONS a new belief that the mutuality of lo­ spiritedness and citizenliness would ARE FREE, cal community can and must be nur­ be cultivated through a devotion to SECRET tured at the level of the nation as a nation and submersion in national SOCIETIES ARE whole. The antidote, however, is the unity, rather than within the local same: the intermediate associations UNKNOWN. associations that Tocqueville had that had averted the possibility of THERE ARE considered essential for the task. democratic tyranny in America. Indeed, the whole nation would FACTIONS IN We are fortunate as a nation to come to possess the sense of mutu­ AMERICA, have voices that speak against the ality or community hitherto found BUT NO powerful vision of national commu­ only in the small, intimate associa­ CONSPIRATORS.' nity and on behalf of intermediate tion. One of the dominant political associations, thereby defying the in­ concepts of our time, this vision of a tellectual currents that, as Tocque­ great national community, is a potent ville foresaw, flow so powerfully to­ intellectual rationale for a centralized ward centralized government. Those state. voices remind us of the ways Amer­ A few voices have been raised ica has managed to secure the bless­ against this notion of national com­ ings of freedom that the new age of munity over the past several dec­ equality makes possible while avoid­ ades, but none more forceful or ef­ ing the servitude that, Tocqueville fective than that of Robert Nisbet. As suggests, the new age makes more he noted in the 1970 preface to The likely and more terrible. ESTERN ACCOUNTS of Po­ W land, usually caught up in the Solidarity movement and the impo­ sition of martial law, occasionally de­ scribe an economy that seems to function despite its inefficiency. In many Eastern-bloc countries, as well Poland's as in the Soviet Union, an informal economy, underlaid by social net­ works, works in conjunction with Informal Economy the formal or state-sponsored econo­ my. Problem-solving networks that connect the community to the for­ BY JOSEPH H. BROWN mal economy and bureaucracy are the mechanisms of the informal economy. Among other things, the informal economy stimulates the for­ mal one, making scarce goods avail­ able to those who can afford them, providing jobs to an unemployed and underemployed population, and putting additional hard currency into circulation. For an illustration of how the in­ formal economy operates, first con­ sider Mr. Jones, who lives in Beaver Falls outside of Pittsburgh, and owns a small business that manufac­ tures soap. Whenever his stock of rosin runs low, Mr. Jones gets on the telephone, takes price quotations from several suppliers, places an order for the best buy, and, in what seems like no time at all, receives a shipment of rosin. Mr. Dzwonczyk, who lives in Karczew outside of Warsaw, also owns a small soap-manufacturing company. He has recently replen­ ished his dwindling supplies of rosin according to a scenario that, to a Western observer, is unbelievably complex. To his neighbors in Karc­ zew, it is business as usual. The transaction begins one Sun­ day when Jan, a bank cashier who doesn't even know Mr. Dzwonczyk, is having tea at his Aunt Jozefa's. Here he meets Tadeusz, another guest, who mentions that he has an excess consignment of rosin. Tadeusz, however, doesn't actually have extra rosin; he simply knows a man named Marcin who does. Enter Leszek, a customer at Jan's bank. One day at the cashier's desk, he casually mentions to Jan that he is looking for rosin. Jan, in turn, in­ forms Leszek that he has the rosin and asks Leszek to call him tomor- In Nowy Targ, gateway to the Tatra Mountains, a woman sells garlic.

Joseph H. Brown is a promotions manag­ er with the University of Chicago Press.

16 row, when he will be able to quote a price for the material. Leszek, it turns out, doesn't really need the rosin; he has merely learned about the shortage from his friend Piotr, who, in turn, heard it from Mr. Dzwonczyk. So Leszek goes immediately to Piotr with the news that he can have rosin available in two days. While Piotr looks for Mr. Dzwonczyk, Jan finds Tadeusz through Aunt Jozefa, and Tadeusz, in turn, looks for Marcin. Eventually a chain is established that links Marcin to Mr. Dzwonczyk through Tadeusz, Aunt Jozefa, Les­ zek, and Piotr. Mr. Dzwonczyk can now place an order for rosin. Of course, he pays more than if he had ordered the rosin through official channels because everyone involved gets a cut. For Mr. Dzwonczyk, how­ Produce for sale in the Polna Market in Warsaw comes from small, privately held plots of land. ever, the results are well worth the There are few collective farms in Poland. extra cost. He does not lose a day of production waiting out interminable delays in delivery, nor does he have Wedel says. "Thus the laws and poli­ posed, and it was difficult even for to confront the possibility that an cies implemented by the Nazi Gener- Polish social scientists to ascertain order placed through government algouvernement, including the ration­ the circumstances under which re­ channels may never get filled at all. ing system and the prohibition of search could be conducted. After Until recently, these informal net­ buying and selling agricultural prod­ about a year and a half, she began to works attracted no serious scholarly ucts, were in reality no more than a make contact with other scholars attention in the West. Interest in the social fiction. Faced with the fact that through the same kinds of informal subject is growing among younger following the rules meant starving, networks she had come to Poland to Polish social scientists in particular, Poles revived extralegal means of investigate. Without these networks, and their research results will soon surviving in spite of the regulations." she explains, her research could nev­ be available outside Poland for the These distribution networks con­ er have progressed as far as it did, first time. With NEH support, social tinued to play a vital role in postwar and she certainly would never have anthropologist Janine Wedel is edit­ Polish social and economic life, says been able to put together the ing and translating a collection of ten Wedel. "After the war, Soviet-style anthology. essays for a forthcoming book. political and economic institutions— Everyone in Poland is involved in By introducing Western readers to state planning, centralization, and informal networks to some extent, the social and economic system that the one-party system—were im­ notes Wedel. "Of course, some peo­ allows the Poles to survive on a daily posed on a country with vastly dif­ ple are better placed because of par­ basis, the essays will provide a key ferent cultural institutions. This sit­ ticular employment or family con­ to understanding socialism's under­ uation encouraged continued nections, and some are much more side. "Informal economies not only development of extralegal network­ skilled at operating within the sys­ permeate economic systems but are ing and a system in which individu­ tem." And, she points out, informal of prime importance to political and als deal with official constraints and is not a synonym for illegal. Many social aspects of society," says public chaos through private means." transactions that take place outside Wedel. "Knowledge of how informal Wedel has found that the de­ Poland's formal economy are as social networks and structures relate velopment and fine-tuning of that straightforward as exchanging sur­ and respond to external constraints system continue to this day. Long- plus ration cards for babysitting ser­ is of major consequence to the deter­ established patterns of behavior con­ vices. "Many others," she points mination of a country's internal tinue to allow people to survive, out, "fall into a gray area, and no stability." even in the face of resources that one, not even lawyers, can tell you The informal economy in Poland is have become increasingly scarce dur­ whether they're legal or illegal. not a new phenomenon. Extralegal ing the last decade. What's especially interesting about networks were prevalent during the Wedel spent the years 1982-86 at the system is that the Poles do not partitions of the eighteenth and the Warsaw University Institute of think of it in terms of legal or nineteenth centuries and, more re­ Sociology, conducting research on illegal." cently, during the German occupa­ informal social networks in Poland. Wedel cites special terms that tion of Poland in World War II. She worked independently at first are used every day for dealing in the "Even the most totalitarian of sys­ because at the time she arrived, mar­ informal economy that, almost in­ tems cannot control everything," tial law had only recently been im­ tentionally it seems, obscure the dis­

17 tinction. The terms are remnants of a obcy (stranger). "Becoming swoj is the The articles to be included in traditional society that persists de­ first step in the privatization that Wedel's anthology are both descrip­ spite fifty years of Nazi and then So­ takes place at every level of the econ­ tive and analytic. Among the con­ viet totalitarianism. Wojciech Pawlik, omy," says Wedel. Likewise, zalatwic tributors are sociologists, anthropol­ a contributor to Wedel's book and a (to "arrange" matters), roughly ogists, economists, writers, journal­ sociologist at the Warsaw University equivalent to our finagling, is an art. ists, and church and government Institute of Social Prevention and Re­ "It's a very personal thing," Wedel representatives. Several articles trace socialization, confirmed Wedel's ob­ explains. "You've got to show that the roots of Poland's informal eco­ servations. He found, she reports, you are human. You can't just go nomic and social system and de­ that "the informal exchange of goods into a store and say, 'I want that scribe how various aspects of the in­ and services has become so preva­ leather bag. I can arrange such and formal economy work. Others are lent that an elaborate etiquette and such for you.' No! Not only can busi­ concerned with the value system an entire language have evolved ness not be transacted that way; it connected with the informal society, around the system. Euphemisms can't even be alluded to until you the ways in which that value system help people rationalize activity that have established some personal rela­ has changed over time, and the obli­ may be illegal or semilegal. The tionship. And that may involve com­ gations of reciprocity and mutual aid proper etiquette protects parties to a ing back five or six times before you among family, friends, neighbors, transaction by letting people know can begin to talk about it. That's if colleagues, and acquaintances. Still whom they can trust." you have no connection to the clerk. others analyze the factors that For example, to make an arrange­ If the clerk happens to be your best brought Poland's informal social and ment with someone, it is necessary friend's cousin, the process is usu­ economic system into existence and to be considered swoj (one of us), not ally easier." contribute to its continued growth and development. "While interest in the subject is growing," cautions Wedel, "it must be understood that, in Poland, ex­ tensive exploration of the informal economy is not officially encour­ aged. It is not possible to go to a li­ brary and find a bibliography on this topic. There are interesting works to choose from but no systematic way to locate them. Much of what has been published has appeared in small-circulation scholarly journals or in books with very limited print runs—sometimes as few as 100 cop­ ies. "While almost anything can be published in Poland, the rule is, es­ sentially, the smaller the circulation, the more you can say," says Wedel. By plumbing these relatively ob­ scure sources, Wedel will be trans­ mitting to readers of English, through firsthand experiences of Pol­ ish social scientists, writers, and journalists, some of the ways in which society shapes the economy in a socialist system. It is not official suppression but simple lack of atten­ tion that accounts for the long schol­ arly silence on Poland's informal sys­ tem thus far. "W hen I asked a noted Polish sociologist why the Poles had conducted so little research on the informal social and economic sys­ tem," says Wedel, "he replied, 'For us, this is just everyday life.'" ^

In 1987 Janine Wedel received $16,000 This goat seller in Nowy Targ is an example of private entrepreneurship in outright funds from the Translations in Polish agriculture. category of the Division of Research Pro­ grams for "The Unplanned Economy: Poland’s Second Society."

18 Religious Resurgence in Asia and Southeast Asia aa Ifrain n Clue Center Culture and Information Japan BY SUSAN BURNAM

MONK IN LAY clothing gov­ A erns the capital city of Thai­ land. In Japan the spirits of the dead are honored by a newly simplified ritual. And on a visit to the People's Republic of China last year, Charles F. Keyes, a professor and chairman of anthropology at the University of Washington, was startled to see mosques being restored. A religious revival seems to be taking place across east and south­ east Asia, its vitality apparently bely­ ing the notion that as societies be­ come more modern, they also grow more secular. Not only are new re­ ligions appearing, but religious growth is also taking place within the traditional religions—among them Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam—that have been in the area for centuries. Exploring the sources and appeal of such religious movements will be a major topic for scholars of history, anthropology, and religion from the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia when they gather next year at an interdisciplinary conference ex­ ploring the relationship between re­ ligion and social change in Asia. Tentatively scheduled for spring 1989 at a site as yet undetermined, the The Kara-mon Gate of the Toshogu Shrine in Nikko. The Shinto shrine, built in 1636, is conference will be sponsored by the dedicated to Ieyasu Tokugawa (1542-1616), one of Japan's greatest generals and statesmen. Social Science Research Council (SSRC) and the American Council of religion in all societies—especially its particular interest to Americans and Learned Societies (ACLS) with sup­ role in helping us understand politi­ their idealized view of church-state port from NEH and the Ford Foun­ cal and social trends—is a topic that separation, will be the way some dation. Conference participants will is really only beginning to be ad­ governments use traditional re­ examine the power of contemporary dressed. International scholars bene­ ligious ideas for political ends while, religious movements in relation to fit from the opportunity to share in other instances, religion is used the processes of urbanization, migra­ ideas in a conference setting. Al­ by particular groups to separate tion, secularization, and change in though they read each other's work, themselves from the state." conceptions of gender and family. it becomes easier to bridge the cul­ According to Helen Hardacre, as­ According to SSRC staff associate tural differences when they are face sociate professor of religion at Stefan Tanaka, "The importance of to face." Princeton University and one of the Certainly, religions both old and conference organizers, participants new are thriving in many parts of hope to develop some new theo­ Susan Burnam is a freelance writer in, the world today, including the retical paradigms for the religious re­ the Washington, D.C., area. United States, observes Tanaka. "Of naissance that might be applicable

19 not only to Asia, but beyond, thus nity of nations. In the process, re­ varied and complicated relationship stimulating research on related top­ ligion, nation, and state have with government policies and na­ ics. In addition to publishing the become intertwined, with religion tional authorities. conference results in the SSRC an­ frequently emerging as a tool for For example, says Keyes, while the nual report and quarterly newsletter, helping people forge a national government of the People's Republic the SSRC will publish a book of edit­ identity. of China is providing some financial ed conference papers. In Korea, for example, the minjung assistance for the rebuilding of Many of the new religions slated (the masses) movement, which be­ mosques, the official position links to come under study at the confer­ gan when a group of theologians the assistance not to Islamization but ence have arisen during a time combined Christian humanism with to a national effort undoing the de­ roughly coinciding with the emer­ parts of Korean religious tradition, is struction wrought during the Cultur­ gence of the modern nation-state in being tied to the rediscovery of in- . al Revolution. Asia, says Laurel Kendall, a member digenous culture. Thus the term Using three examples from of the curatorial staff in charge of the minjung is being extended to aspects Thailand, Keyes further illustrates Asian ethnographic collections at the of their culture that Koreans consider the complexity of the church-state American Museum of Natural Histo­ to be uniquely Korean; even main­ relationship in the region. In that ry and one of the conference orga­ stream politicians invoke the rhetoric country the forest monks, who with­ nizers. This modern state, self­ of the movement. draw from society and assign no rel­ consciously reclaiming and main­ Kendall points out, however, that evance to the concept of nationhood, taining its history, has an agenda not although religious movements like receive patronage from the royal only for development but also for minjung are nationalistic in one family. In contrast, the current gov­ creating a national consciousness—in sense, they "aren't necessarily crea­ ernor of Bangkok, while a strict as­ other words, for establishing an im­ tures of the state." This is because cetic Buddhist, has strong involve­ age of itself as a nation in a commu­ Asian religious movements have a ments in the world; not only is he governor, but he is a military general as well. Meanwhile, a popular spirit- medium cult, although based on an indigenous religious tradition, has been suppressed by the Thai govern­ ment because its leader claims he is possessed by historical Thai figures who speak through him. Distinctive local traditions may also merge with religious aspects to validate an ethnic group's special identity within a nation. In Indo­ nesia, where the law requires each citizen to choose from among five faiths, the government has sanc­ tioned Aluk, the animist tradition of the Toraja region, as a sect of one of the five offical religions. Aluk has grown stronger as the Toraja people engage in a process of defining themselves as an important culture within a national context. "The whole idea that there is a Toraja group, culture, identity, and religion, is relatively new," says Toby Alice Volkman, staff associate at SSRC. At the same time, a seemingly dis­ parate and even more widespread religious movement is taking place among the Toraja people as hun­ dreds of Toraja migrate to other parts of Indonesia and convert to Chris­ tianity. The thread common to both Toraja movements, according to A Shinto wedding ceremony. Shinto, literally "the way of the gods," is a body of ancient Japanese religious be­ Volkman, is the importance assigned liefs. State Shinto, which inculcated loyalty to the imperial family, originated in the mid-nineteenth century to ritual. To the adherents, whether and was disestablished in 1945. Shinto customs are often incorporated into Buddhist or other religious ceremonies. Aluk or Christian, the rituals tend to define the uniqueness of their re­ ligion, not only for themselves, but also in the eyes of observers, includ­

20 orey arl edl, htgah y oe Williams Homer by photograph Kendall, Laurel Courtesy

A Christian funeral in the Toraja highlands of Indonesia. The corpse is carried in a red and gold A modern Korean bride and groom perform the final cylinder on a bamboo bier across fields to the grave. rite of matrimony. In the Confucian world, the proper performance of ritual exemplifies moral and social worth.

another need: an alternative view of what church or ritual you attend. In gender roles that provides for more all the time I was there I never heard active participation by women than a debate about morality and God in do many of the mainstream religions abstract terms." in the area. Hardacre cites as an ex­ All this new activity in the re­ ample the religions arising in Japan ligious realm is a challenge to exist­ over the past 150 years. Many of the ing ideas of social evolution and a founders were women, and women fertile field for scholars. Hardacre have a greater role in their ritual suggests that the case of state Shinto performance. in Japan, which contributed heavily In the People's Republic of China, to the emergence of the nation dur­ Taiwan, Korea, and Japan, some ing the period of expansionist war­ popular cults allow or encourage fare from the 1890s to the end of practices, such as spirit possession World War II, may provide a model or healing rituals, that mainstream with some "rough predictive value" religions may regard as unorthodox for similar events. Some scholars and that secular society may consid­ speculate that such movements may er ineffective. Kendall suggests that occur cyclically. these movements may be popular in Stefan Tanaka points out that part because they "deal with prob­ while the conference will undoubt­ lems in an idiom that people can un­ edly shed light on reasons for the derstand and that is emotionally sat­ current religious renaissance in Asia, isfying." Cutting down on the the discussions "may also disabuse formality and expense of a ritual for many of the cherished notions that the dead in Japan, for example, is an such phenomena are always im­ approach to honoring the departed pelled by a return to the divine." In­ that many people find easier to deed, it may be impossible to make handle. predictions about religious move­ An interest in ritual and the prop­ ments. "Different cultures and dif­ er religious observance for modern ferent times," he says, "require dif­ An effigy of a deceased Aluk woman in the society is common in many of the ferent assumptions." Toraja highlands. Recently some Christians Asian religious movements. Active have begun to fashion effigies as artistic public debate on religion often fo­ representations rather than spirit receptacles. cuses on the nuances of practice. In In 1986 the Social Science Research Korea, according to Kendall, "there Council received $300,000 in outright ing foreigners, who see the rituals as is a need to have open discourse funds and $2,565,775 in matching funds tourists or visitors. about things once taken for from the Regrants for International Re­ Some of the popular religious granted." In Indonesia, elaborates search category of the Division of Re­ movements now flourishing in east Volkman, "people are really con­ search Programs for the "ACLS/SSRC and southeast Asia seem to fulfill yet cerned about what you do— that is, International Research Program."

21 George Caleb Bingham: Missouri Painter BY SUSAN R. GOODMAN Bingham executed this self-portrait ca. 1877.

S A CHILD OF the frontier, it was natural for George Caleb A Bingham (1811-79), the "Missouri painter," to paint the fur trap­ pers, flatboatmen, country politicians, and squatters he knew so well. He portrayed them as rugged and self-reliant Americans, emblems of the frontier spirit. Bingham came of age in the Golden Age of American painting (1830-60), when the work of American artists was, for the first time, appreciated and purchased not only by the wealthy— whose taste tended toward European works and artists—but also by an emerging and increasingly affluent middle class with an appetite for art that re­ flected the American spirit. Today, Bingham ranks among the best of the nineteenth-century American narrative painters. "He was a powerful figure who broke new ground in illustrating the simple joys of American life and who prepared the way for the giants—Winslow Homer and Thomas Eakins— to follow," says E. Maurice Bloch, emeritus professor of art history at the University of California at Los Angeles. Bloch is author of The Paintings of George Caleb Bingham: A Catalogue Raisonne p u b ­ lished by the University of Missouri Press and funded in part by a grant from NEH. Bloch's catalogue raisonne places Bingham's life and work in the context of the social, artistic, and political climate of nineteenth- century America. The catalogue also reflects on Bingham's philoso­ phy of art and examines the issue of patronage and national support for artists. A photograph of Bingham shows a man with strong features and unruly hair (actually a wig to cover his baldness after a severe case of smallpox). "He was a small man, but his dynamic qualities set him apart," says Bloch, who adds that the cool, formal, and highly refined style of his work disguised an inner turbulence. To his foes, Bingham

Susan R. Goodman is a freelance writer in Washington, D.C. 22 was volatile, irascible, and pugnacious— with a colorful vocabulary to match. To his close friends, he was fiercely loyal, often charming, wit­ ty, and even affectionate. "He never attempted to mitigate the com­ bative part of his personality," says Bloch.

Painter and Politician

Unlike other American artists, Bingham became a statesman and a legend in political circles. He served as Missouri's treasurer and adju­ tant general and twice entered congressional races. He was an articu­ late speaker and writer with strong opinions, which he expressed in "vivid language and acid prose" according to Bloch. When Bingham presented his portraits of Jackson and Clay to the Missouri State Legislature, he used the occasion to speak out against the secessionists. In his painting Martial Law, he recorded his outrage at the suffering of innocent people under the infamous Order 11, a general eviction imposed by the military in an attempt to stop guerilla raids from Missouri into Kansas during the Civil War. Like many American artists, Bingham was largely self-taught and "he was proud of it," according to Bloch. Inspired by an itinerant painter, Bingham started out as a journeyman portraitist, traveling from town to town through Missouri and Mississippi. The stiffness of his early work began to soften after he studied for several months at the Philadelphia Academy of Art. He was also exposed to other artists while he worked as a portraitist for several years in Washington, D.C. Nevertheless, Bloch finds it "astonishing" that Bingham could have it f r ad r. on . okfle III Rockefeller D. John Mrs. and Mr. of gift produced such refined and sophisticated paintings as Fur Traders De­ Francisco, San of Museums Arts Fine The scending the Missouri. "Without direct access to the European master- works, Bingham began using classical and Renaissance compositions and techniques to paint American subjects," says Bloch. "He bor­ rowed figures and poses from the works of Raphael and Masaccio, used religious iconography to portray secular subjects— The Emigra­ tion of Daniel Boone is presented like The Flight of the Holy Family into Egypt— and used red underpainting and multiple glazes, a technique

which gives his works their characteristic rosy glow. This 'true crim­ son' underpainting is almost a signature of Bingham's work."

Above: Shooting for the Beef (1850) is a genre scene of the American West. The prize in the contest, a bull, is chained to a stump next to the post office and grocery store. Bingham would receive $350.00 for a ten-figure subject such as this one. Right: In Boatmen on the Missouri, 1846, Bingham's classical triangular composition gives grandeur to a humble subject.

23 Jolly Flatboatmen in Port (1857), one of several versions of scenes of flatboatmen, was painted in Diisseldorf Germany, where Bingham lived for a\

Patronage Problems

B loch n otes that patronage was always painters. America, unlike Europe painters, few galleries, and almost chase their work. For a long time considered inferior to European themselves by painting portrait m ore than 500 portraits throughout b o ilin g ." By 1830, though, a market for along with a growing sense of class acquainted with art through duced by Currier and Ives. B in gham gained a national reputation Union, an important corporate Major James Sidney Rollins, 1871. Bing­ w orks appealing to patriotic feeling ham painted this portrait in Columbia, Mis­ souri, probably as a study for the head of a works and distributed them by life-size, full-length portrait of the major. bought nineteen of Bingham's

24 hibited them for long periods, promoted his work in its magazine, and engraved The Jolly Flatboatman in an edition of 10,000. Despite national recognition, Bingham never achieved federal pat­ ronage. He sought, but did not win, a commission "to paint a west­ ern subject by a western artist" for a new extension to the Capitol in Washington, D.C. Although he has always been well-known in Mis­ souri, his national reputation began to fade even before his death in 1879. Not until 1935, after an exhibition of American realists at the Museum of Modern Art, did contemporary scholars become inter­ ested in Bingham's work.

An Educated Eye

Having studied Bingham's life and work for more than forty years, Bloch notes, "It would have been possible to write an excellent book on Bingham by noting only a narrow circle of authentic works. But the much greater mass of questionable works and copies acted as a magnet and a challenge." The catalogue raisonne, which supersedes an earlier version written by Bloch, includes 100 works discovered in recent years. In addition, the attribution of twenty works previously thought to be by Bingham has been changed. Because few paintings have unassailable documentary evidence wng a flourishing community of artists. that authenticates their authorship, a scholar must separate the "sheep" (authentic works by an artist) from the "goats" (works sim­ ilar in style by others) and from the "wolves in sheep's clothing" (cop­ ies of the artist's work by others). An attribution, which is an expert's a problem for American educated opinion about whose hand made a particular painting, re­ had no kings or courts to support quires the eye of a connoisseur. "After forty years, you become one no museums to display or pur- whether you want to or not," says Bloch. He did not make attribu­ American artists and subjects were tions based on photographs, secondary sources, family tradition, or Most American artists supported other scholars' opinions, but only on firsthand examination of works. Bloch adds that Bingham painted Because most of Bingham's paintings are held in private collections, hiss career "to keep the pot this catalogue raisonne with its 370 black-and-white and 34 color il­ lustrations may become indispensable to students and scholars. Like American subjects began to em erge, the independent and self-reliant subjects of his paintings, "Bingham nationalism and the rise of a m iddle is an elusive and complex figure who developed completely on his lithographic prints like those pro­ own," Bloch concludes. "Even after forty years, he still refreshes my m in d ." through the American Art that encouraged artists to paint The Art Union bought such In 1984 the University of Missouri Press received $9,080 in outright funds lottery to its m em bers. The Art U nion from the Publication Subvention category of the Division of Research Pro­ paintings betw een 1845 and 1851, ex­ gram s for "The Paintings of George Caleb Bingham: A Catalogue Raisonne.'

25 ECAUSE ART IS often spoken Buying B of as a bearer of highly person­ al, intangible values, it is not un­ usual for discussions of art to invoke the sacred and mystical. But art is and also a tangible commodity that is bought and sold. The process through which art—especially con­ temporary painting—enters the mar­ ketplace and acquires objective, Selling Nature morte a la Bouteille, Pablo Picasso, 1962. Linocut. monetary value is the subject of an

BY NANCY BECKER NEH-supported translation by Arthur Goldhammer of sociologist Raymonde Moulin's book, Le Marche de la Peinture en France, 1945-1967. Although there has been a great deal of research in France on the so­ ciology of art, very little of it has been translated. The English ver­ sion, shortened and retitled The French Art Market: A Sociological View by the author, was published by Rutgers University Press in 1987. An acknowledged classic in the history of art, Moulin's study was until re­ cently the only written account of the interaction between aesthetic ap­ preciation and financial value. The extensive data on which she based the study have made the work a useful contribution to research and teaching in the fields of sociology and art history. According to Howard Becker, pro­ fessor of sociology at Northwestern

Nancy Becker is a freelance writer and Deux Hommes, Fernand Leger, 1920. Ink wash on paper. editor in Cleveland.

26 University and a major figure in the the painter to sell to others, were discovered, reliable financial data field of the sociology of art, The signed. Many of these agreements were hard to come by. French Art Market is the first thor­ were not strictly monopolies, but ough attempt by a sociologist to in­ rather oligopolies, observed Risk Takers and Art Lovers terview substantial numbers of the Moulin—i.e., several dealers ac­ key participants—painters, dealers, quired the exclusive right to pur­ Moulin was particularly interested in collectors, critics, curators, and aca­ chase an artist's output for a spec­ the relationship between the stated demics—in one country's art market. ified period of time. ideologies and motivations of the The study covers the period when In this circumstance, each dealer participants in the art market, on the art prices first began escalating to might have a monopoly within a one hand, and their actual behavior, unprecedented levels. In Becker's specific country or region of the on the other. "Market actors," she opinion, Moulin's empirical ap­ world, or a worldwide or regional states, "are not abstract economic proach sets her work apart from the monopoly of one type of the artist's h At nttt o Chicago of Institute ArtThe theoretical studies of most of her Eu­ production, e.g., watercolors or ropean colleagues and is more con­ gouaches or oils. Payment to the art­ sonant with research typically con­ ist was usually based on the size of ducted by Americans. Although each canvas. Collectors, in turn, Moulin's research was delineated by might also try to buy a considerable geography and time, she believes portion of an artist's output from her observations hold true at least for dealers so that they could control the the current French art market. market price of their investment. Although this was the way dealers in contemporary art and collectors Pricing Contemporary Art attempted to control the market for a The economic value of a painting specific artist's work, Moulin found cannot be discussed in the same way that their efforts were inevitably di­ as a factory-produced object. The minished by their limited ability to artist's materials are a minimal ex­ influence demand for a particular pense, and the value of the finished artist's work. Noting that aesthetic product cannot be determined by judgment about a new work is never the cost of the artist's labor. Inevita­ unanimous, and also subject to bly, an obscure and difficult-to-dis- changing times, Moulin pointed out cern process determines the market that high prices do, however, tend to price of a contemporary art work. influence judgment. This is because Moulin differentiated the market purchasers and even critics are likely for contemporary art, the focus of to attribute positive aesthetic values her book, from two other art mar­ to the work of an artist whose pre­ kets. The market for traditional art, vious output has earned high prices. Moulin said, is one whose aesthetic Articles about art dealers, collec­ and financial value has been estab­ tors, and art prices appear fairly lished over time and includes old often in today's press, especially Portrait of Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler by Picasso (1910). A masters as well as modem masters when a particularly high price is prominent Paris art dealer and collector, Kahnweiler (1884- such as the Impressionists. The mar- paid at auction for a painting or 1979) handled the work of Picasso, Braque, and many other twentieth-century artists. ket for what she referred to as "non- when a museum receives a major art" is one whose purchasers "expect collection. Few contemporary works nothing of painting except that it re­ are sold at auction, however, and agents but concrete social subjects produce reality and reflect the inter­ "prices paid for works sold privately whose values dictate their judg­ ests of the buyer." are difficult to pin down and vary ments and shape their decisions." In the field of contemporary art, widely," says Moulin. "At any given Her central research problem was Moulin discovered that a painting time a work may be up for sale at gaining access to the major actors in first gained the attention of the art- several different prices: one for the market and overcoming their ist's peers and a small but influential anonymous buyers, one for muse­ distrust. Dealers typically refused to group likely to include critics as well ums and a select group of collectors reveal information about their buy­ as potential buyers and dealers who [because a painter's presence in an ing and selling prices. Collectors, for keep abreast of developments in important collection is good for ad­ the most part, did not allow Moulin contemporary art through a care- vertising, dealers are willing to sacri­ to see all of their holdings, thereby fully honed network. The attention fice financially to obtain it], one for limiting her view of the development of a critic or the interest of a poten- brokers or resellers (the so-called and range of their taste. ial buyer might then influence a dealer price), and one leaked to jour­ Painters, if successful, did not dealer to purchase the work. nalists for publicity purposes (the want to waste their time talking with To protect this investment, the tendency here being to overprice, a sociologist. Those who were un­ dealer might agree to purchase the because a painter's status is associ­ successful were likely to devote most painter's work only if a contractual ated with his [or her] place in the of the conversation to venting their arrangement, restricting the right of economic hierarchy)." Thus, Moulin anger against a system that had not

27 rewarded them. Almost all artists in­ ically praised for the skill and hard terviewed saw their involvement work required for its creation, with with art as expressive of their unique evidence of such labor seen as an in personalities and were highly skep­ dication of the artist's virtue. Fur­ tical about the enterprise of sociolo­ thermore, if the critic saw a tradi­ gy. In their view, Moulin's profes­ tional painting as "good," the critic sional calling, with its focus on was likely to infer that the work was group behavior, could only be used a tangible representation of the art­ to rob them of individuality. ist's good intention. Dealers in the traditional art mar­ Critics of contemporary painting, ket sell a commodity with a widely on the other hand, often used the acknowledged value. Those in the vocabulary associated with more ab­ business of selling contemporary art, stract concepts, choosing terms from however, are handling work whose philosophy or science and words in­ value, by definition, has not yet been dicating "initiation into powerful established. This latter group was mysteries." Much contemporary art classified by Moulin as entrepeneuri- criticism, Moulin noted, employs al risk-takers. Although the business references to existentialism, Oriental Composition, Fernand Leger, 1932. role of a dealer in traditional art was philosophy, and psychoanalysis. Pen and ink and gouache on paper. relatively secure, dealers in contem­ However, she observed, while invok- porary art often described them­ ing the terminology of the wide selves as adventurous pioneers ful­ range of philosophic thought, crit­ filling unsatisfied creative urges. icism of contemporary art was char- According to Moulin, ideally these acterized by neither rigor nor logic. risk-takers were "connoisseurs and Moulin's study confirmed some art lovers as well as champions of a commonly held assumptions about cause and good businessmen." Like artists, for example, that they typ­ other participants in the art market, ically see themselves as practicing many dealers in the study tried to not a profession, but a vocation. Ad- conceal the mercantile aspects of hering to an ideology of freedom their profession. One dealer said, "I and independence, they believe that do this work as a priest. I am not an good art can be realized only by involved party." those who do not yield to market Collectors interviewed by Moulin pressures. Some artists studied by were typically apologetic and loath Moulin took this to its logical limits to admit collecting for profit. by refusing to submit their work to Owners of particularly large collec­ the judgment of the marketplace. tions, she found, frequently did not Others played to win, keeping aware like being identified as collectors, of influential players and devising preferring instead to be known as strategies to gain their approval. If lovers of art. One said, "Collectors? these artists achieved their goals, They are enthusiasts, snobs, or spec­ they rationalized their success by ulators. I am simply a lover of art." pointing out that their financial gains Another extended the idea of love allowed them to pursue their work even further: "With painting I expe­ uncompromisingly At the same time rience the lasting pleasure of abso­ they were generally cynical about a lute possession that so long eluded system that they were able to me with people." For others, the manipulate. pleasure of collecting derived from The potential exists, of course, for Little Horse, Georges Braque, 1939 the risk and competition, whereby an artist to sell out, that is, to paint (cast 1955). Bronze. those who win are the ones with in a style that suits a particular mar- culture and taste. ket. Although shrewd artists and dealers could influence the market in Defining Culture and Taste the short term, says Moulin, even- tually the artist's status was likely to Moulin found that critics of contem­ be determined by the originality and porary art typically used different quality of the work produced and vocabularies than did those writing not by the market players. about traditional art. Because tradi­ tional art, almost by definition, For "he Marche de la Peinture en makes reference to reality, critics France," Rutgers University Press was could compare it to that aspect of re­ awarded $2,810 in matching funds in ality it seeks to represent. In addi­ 1986 from the Translations category of tion, traditional painting was typ­ the Division of Research Programs.

28 Plato's Political Philosophy BY CHARLES L. GRISWOLD, JR.

he central theme of Plato's polit­ give-and-take on the campus of T ical philosophy—namely, estab­ Howard University in Washington, lishing the elements of a just social D.C., provided an opportunity to order—is the central theme of West­ confront some of the fundamental ern political philosophy. For that rea­ problems of determining when polit­ son Plato is usually credited with ical power is legitimate. In discuss­ being the first major figure in that ing the political philosophy of Plato, venerable tradition. A study of sev­ the participants also became privy to eral of Plato's explicitly political dia­ the intellectual vigor and masterful logues is of geniune interest to any­ literary style that this philosopher one contemplating the relationship brought to complicated and still-dif­ between the city and man. ficult issues. In the summer of 1985 I conducted The major issue pursued through­ an NEH summer seminar on "Plato's out the seminar concerned the Political Philosophy." The aim of nature of "justice." For four weeks, these NEH-supported summer semi­ we immersed ourselves in reading nars is to give high school teachers and discussing the Apology (which an opportunity for intensive, unin­ portrays Socrates' defense before the terrupted study of the world's great Athenian court) and the Crito (which literature so that they can enrich takes place in an Athenian prison), their own knowledge of the subject along with the Statesman and por­ and share what they have gained tions of the Republic. And because with their students. the Phaedrus supplies an explicit dis­ The fifteen participants in the Pla­ cussion of the virtues and vices of to seminar were teachers of science, the spoken and written word, the English, mathematics, history, social seminar participants also discussed studies, the fine arts, and the hu­ relevant sections of this work as a manities. For them, the academic way of coming to grips with the problem of interpreting Plato. In­ deed, study of The Phaedrus made it Charles L. Griswold, Jr., is associate pro­ evident that interpreting Plato poses fessor and acting chairman of the Philos­ deeply philosophical questions. ophy Department at Howard University Such problems of textual interpreta­ in Washington, D.C. The author of Seli- tion, of course, extend well beyond Knowledge in Plato's Phaedrus, he is Plato; the Scripture and the U.S. also editor of Platonic Writings, Pla­ Constitution, to name only two ex­ tonic Readings. amples, present a similar challenge. between two nonphilosophers? As on whether Socrates really had the participants pursued these ques­ something to defend. tions through reading and discus­ Participants turned their attention sion, they concluded that Plato's to Crito, the second text discussed. writing style embodied his concept In this dialogue between the im­ of the just relationship between the prisoned Socrates and his non- philosopher and the polis. philosophical friend Crito, the latter The starting point for discussion offered to spring Socrates from pris­ was the Apology. Here in the "De­ on; but Socrates refused the invita­ fense of Socrates" the seminar par­ tion to betray the law. Participants ticipants found a piece of writing so pondered the question of why So­ extraordinarily subtle that, like gen- . crates offered a spirited defense, put erations of readers before them, they in the mouth of the "Laws," that his labored to answer its most straight­ flight from prison would, in and of forward questions: Was Socrates in itself, be unjust. fact guilty as charged? Was his de­ Working through such dialogues fense as persuasive as it ought to as the Apology and Crito inevitably have been? Was he being unjustly raised questions of Socrates' sincer­ persecuted, or did Athens have a le­ ity. A key assumption of the Crito is gitimate complaint against this med­ that the just is equivalent to what is dlesome philosopher charged with conventionally lawful—the very as­ corrupting the youth of Athens and sumption that Socrates called into not believing in the Athenian question in the Apology. This led us religion? to question whether Plato was pos­ Some were quickly persuaded that ing a puzzle to the reader, over the Socrates was gloriously innocent, a head of Crito, as to whether the just Greek Christ-figure who was un­ and the legal are synonyms. Plato is unique in Western thought justly persecuted. A closer reading Indeed, toward the beginning of in writing solely in dialogue form. (I of the dialogue, however, led to a re­ the Republic, participants were pre­ put aside the vexed question of The examination of this initial assump­ sented with the thesis that the just Letters, which are not dialogues and tion. Several people questioned and the legal are the same. Both are may not be authentic.) He used the whether there are natural rights to the instruments of power, and the dramatic form inherent in dialogue which we are all entitled by virtue of view that justice is intrinsically good to capture the tension between phi­ our common humanity. Others won­ is merely a useful pretense. If an in­ losopher and polis beautifully. In dered whether a political community dividual could get away with being their resemblance to plays or dra­ can flourish when its fundamental unjust, that person would be thor­ mas, however, the dialogues present assumptions are being undermined oughly unjust. One seminar partici­ a particular challenge to the reader. by Socratic philosophers. pant, who had been deeply involved Because Plato did not speak in his A still deeper problem implicit in in the civil rights movement in Ala­ own voice, for example, the dialogue Socrates' defense—and one that gar­ bama and identified strongly with form makes it difficult to ascertain nered much debate—was whether Socrates, asserted that viewing the Plato's own philosophy. In addition, the philosophic logic that Socrates just and legal as identical is dras­ all the Platonic dialogues take place advocated is livable. Many partici­ tically wrong. Just because some­ between a philosopher (such as So­ pants thought that Socrates' state­ thing is written into law, she main­ crates, the Eleatic Stranger, the Athe­ ment at the end of the Apology— that tained, does not make it right. There nian Stranger) and one or more non­ an unexamined life is not worth liv­ are just occasions for civil philosophers (among whom are ing for a man—represented an ex­ disobedience. several potential philosophers). traordinarily harsh judgment of When we came to the Statesman, Seminar participants wondered one's fellow human beings. Many seminar participants immediately why a philosopher would write in a people do not lead examined lives. detected differences between this way that makes it difficult to know Does that mean that their lives are work and the Republic (although the precisely what he means. And why not worth living? Because the state­ ultimate results of the two dialogues is there never a Platonic dialogue be­ ment was essential to Socrates' de­ may be reconcilable). A striking tween two mature philosophers or fense, our discussion soon focused change was Socrates' uncharacteristic

ESTABLISHING THE ELEMENT

30 This engraving of Socrates (ca. 470- 399 B.C.) by L.P. Boitard appears in Cooper's The Life of Socrates (London, 1750).

silence during the interrogation of and discussion of the seminar texts Platonic principle that justice is another character. In the Statesman, eventually showed him otherwise. founded on the rule of knowledge the discussion was conducted, not The Soviet system, after all, is not rather than on the rule of individual by Socrates, but by a philosopher based on rule by philosophers! liberties or rights became particu­ identified only as the Eleatic Strang­ As we got deeper into the texts, larly clear to us when we contrasted er. The Stranger's initial analysis of the seminar participants began to it to the view of modern philoso­ statesmanship yielded the puzzling see the relationship between the phers such as Hobbes, Locke, and definition that an accomplished substance of Plato's work and its America's Founding Fathers. We de­ statesman is one who possesses the form. The dialogues, for example, cided that the real issue here con­ perfect knowledge for ruling over helped bridge the gap between phi­ cerns the tension between the rule of "featherless bipeds." losopher and polis without overtly at­ liberty and the rule of knowledge. There were fifteen different voices tacking the foundations of popular These modern figures believed that at this point, each with a strong morality. In addition, the dialogue those who govern should do so in opinion about the kind of knowl­ form deeply reflected the view that the name of perserving the liberties edge a perfect statesman must pos­ philosophy is not so much a doctrine of the governed. But they viewed the sess. Indeed, because the seminar as it is a search whose nature and overt teaching of Plato's Republic and participants brought such an extraor­ value can only be demonstrated di- Statesman as paternalistic. dinary diversity of opinions to the alogically. Finally, participants con­ In reflecting on the American common table, we had a fine "feast cluded that a reason Plato did not founding, however, participants also of discourses," to borrow a Platonic write a dialogue between two ma­ pondered what the responses of the phrase. One participant, a Hun­ ture philosophers is that Plato in­ Founding Fathers might be to a Pla­ garian immigrant who had fled to tended to draw the reader into the tonic charge that they were provid­ this country from the communists in dialogue personally in such a way as ing for a community in which the 1956, held strong views about the to make the reader the second blind choose their leaders blindly, all value of liberty. Initially, he identi­ philosopher. for the purpose of maximizing the fied Platonic communism with Sovi­ At several junctures, our reading liberty of tbe blind to pursue subjec­ et communism, but a close reading of Plato focused on modernity. The tive values. Certainly, Jefferson—

OF A JUST SOCIAL ORDER.. .

31 In 399 Socrates was accused of impiety and corrupting youth and was condemned to death. Jacques Louis David's neoclassic masterpiece, The Death of Socrates, shows Socrates, surrounded by his disciples, being handed the cup of hemlock.

who along with Madison disliked logue. Students draw the sashes on the Republic intensely—maintained the windows and place a projector in that while the people may not have the back of the room. A prisoner is the capacity to rule, they do have the suddenly released into the tempo­ capacity to choose their rulers. rarily blinding light of the day, and Although many in the seminar then returned to compete in an image- thought that the gap between Plato naming contest with the unliberated. and the Founding Fathers is not as At the conclusion of the reenact­ large as it might seem at first glance, ment, the discussion returns to a they believed that some doctrine of careful analysis of The Republic. The individual liberty is indispensable to final assignment for the course is a just social order. At the same time, written out in the form of a Socratic they reached a consensus that the dialogue, modeled after the Platonic Platonic thesis that just rule must dialogues read in class. rest on knowledge, and not only on The seminar benefited teachers of consent, is sound. Education was nonhumanities subjects as well. proposed as the key to resolving the Math teacher Barbara Christensen of tension between these two Sturgis, South Dakota, has incorpo­ principles. rated the questioning nature of the One of the glories of Plato is that dialectic into her teaching approach his thought, even in its complexity, at Brown High School. "Now my al­ both draws us into philosophical gebra students are memorizing less speculation and remains grounded and probably learning more," she in ordinary life. Several of the semi­ explains. "Once the students work nar participants have since reported through a time-tested mathematical that they found their teaching influ­ procedure on their own, it's as enced by the model of the Socratic though they've been hit by a bolt of method. lightning. They no longer have to One seminar participant, Cheryl believe me; and they don't have to Hughes of Alta High School in remember the rule." Sandy, Utah, teaches a humanities course with a significant section on In 1984 Charles L. Griswold, Jr., re­ Greek civilization. At one point dur­ ceived $43,116 in outright funds for a ing a discussion of Plato's Republic, Summer Seminar for Secondary School she turns her classroom into the cave Teachers on "Plato's Political described allegorically in that dia­ Philosophy."

32 ■ The Novels of Charles Brockden Brown

BY JENNIFER NEWTON l poo cuts o te et tt Cals rcdn rw Collection Brown Brockden Charles State Kent the of courtesy photos All

HE FOLLOWING WORK is delivered to the world as the first of T a series of performances, which the favorable reception of this will induce the Writer to publish. . . . Whether this tale will be classed with the ordinary or frivolous sources of amusement, or be ranked with the few productions whose usefulness secures to them a lasting reputation, the reader must be permitted to decide." This is how a young, enthusiastic, and fevered writer introduced his first novel to the American reading public. The year was 1798, the novel w as Wieland, or The Transformation: An American Tale, and the writer was Charles Brockden Brown, this country's first professional novelist. Long considered the obligatory first stop in an American lit­ erature survey course, Brown's work has begun to be read and en­ joyed for its own sake. A six-volume edition of the definitive texts of Brown's novels, spurred by the bicentennial of Brown's birth and funded in part by NEH, will contribute significantly to the "lasting reputation" Brown so fervently hoped for. Brown was born into a Philadelphia Quaker family whose founder, Brown's great-great grandfather, had preceded William Penn to Amer­ ica. His father and older brothers were prosperous merchants, but Brown realized at an early age that he did not have the temperament Above: Charles Brockden Brown (1771-1810), by British for business. Sensitive, moody, bookish, and prone to pulmonary portraitist James Sharpies. Below: Alcuin, Brown's first weakness, Brown quickly became oppressed by studying "the rub­ published pamphlet, makes a strong case for women's rights. bish of the law," the profession urged on him by his family. His first published prose work, a series of essays titled "The Rhapsodist" and written when he was eighteen, reflected his reading of Goethe and Rousseau as well as his own melancholy, and featured a character who seeks "the friendly gloom of his favorite grotto." Brown eventually fell in with the preeminent literary group of his time, the "Connecticut Wits," and thereby found a milieu where his heretofore thwarted literary ambitions were recognized and encour­ aged. Nonetheless, Brown found it difficult to escape the notion that the pursuit of literature was, as Sydney J. Krause, general editor of the bicentennial edition puts it, "an alien life in his own home coun­ try." During the 1790s, when he was finding his feet as a writer, Brown's notebooks were full of fragmentary tales about orphans, re­ flecting both his estrangement from his family and his feeling of being cut off from the mainstream of American life. Brown was determined to make his living from his pen, and during an extraordinary four-year period from 1798 to 1801 he produced six novels. His publisher, Hocquet Caritat, attempted to peddle the nov-

Jennifer Newton is a freelance writer in Washington, D.C.

33 els in England as well as the United States, this being the usual road to financial success, but eventually Brown was forced to turn his hand to editing journals and engaging in miscellaneous journalistic ventures. According to dramatist William Dunlap, his friend and bio­ grapher, Brown's ambition to be "exclusively an author" was a consid­ erable novelty in a land where "no one had relied solely upon the support of his talents as a writer." In 1810, Brown died of tuberculosis at the age of thirty-nine. Establishing definitive texts of Brown's six novels, one of which was written in a hasty six weeks, has proved a challenge for the editors, both of whom are based at Kent State University, where the preemi­ nent collection of Brown's work is housed. As textual editor S.W. Reic notes, Brown seems to have been a careless corrector of printers' proofs, preferring the excitement of creation to the task of amending what he called "slighter inaccuracies of grammar, orthography, and punctuation." Complicating matters is the fact that very little of Brown's literary work survives in manuscript. The closest we have to a manuscript for any of Brown's books are two handwritten copies of Above: An 1805 letter from Brown to one of his closest his first major production, a treatise on the rights of women, copied friends, William Dunlap. Dunlap was an artist, play­ by Brown's father. wright, author, and theatrical director. Below: In Brown's For the bicentennial edition of the novels, the editors gathered as second novel, Ormond; or The Secret Witness, the many first editions as possible, since these are most likely to have heroine Constantia remains virtuous despite the oppres­ sion of the aristocratic Ormond. been supervised by the author. The texts were then collated— first edi tions by a machine collator and subsequent editions by two readers— to discover variants within a given edition. For the early bicentennial volumes, it took nearly five years to establish the text, produce the historical and textual essays that are included in the volumes, and see the edition through the press. The bicentennial edition bears the seal of the Center for Editions of American Authors, granted by a commit tee of the Modern Language Association whose function is to encour­ age production of authentic editions that are free of editors' "correc­ tions" and printers' errors, but that occasionally incorporate revisions by the authors themselves. A nineteenth-century critic, not at all favorable toward Brown's work, once commented: "Nobody ever remembered the words of Charles Brockden Brown; nobody ever thought of the arrangement; yet nobody ever forgot what they conveyed." This quality of inel­ egant immediacy makes description of his novels difficult. Yet Brown is not necessarily completely sui generis. The editors describe his work as a bridge between the Richardsonian novel of morality, the Gothic novel of romance and terror, and the Godwinian novel of so­ cial purpose— all contemporary forms with which he was familiar. The connection with the Gothic novel is most readily apparent, particularly in Brown's first novel, W ieland, which is pervaded by an atm osp h ere of h orror and the supernatural. Yet Sy d n ey K rause points out that unlike his English contemporaries Walpole, Lewis, and

34 Radcliffe, Brown was interested less in the sensational aspects of mys­ tery than in the psychological motivations behind it. When Wieland's father becomes a victim of spontaneous combustion— the author cites in a footnote several documented cases— the emphasis is on the char­ acter's pent-up religious passions. The later ruin of Wieland's own family, seemingly brought on by supernatural powers of ventrilo­ quism, lies in Wieland's religious passion and hubris. Brown believed that moral truth must be the central purpose of a novel. In this, we see the connections between his work and that of Samuel Richardson. As in the latter's Pam ela and C larissa, Brow n's novels often feature virtuous but oppressed heroines who ultimately triumph through strength of character. This is most notable in O rm ond (1799), where the aptly named Constantia manages to retain her vir­ tue under assault from the aristocratic, unscrupulous Ormond. More­ over, by facing a variety of troubles more honorably than the men around her, Constantia demonstrates a natural moral superiority. Brown was steeped in the Quaker tradition of concern for women's rights; he never published the last part of his treatise on the subject presumably because his views on divorce— namely, that women should be able to divorce their husbands and retain their own proper­ ty—were too inflammatory. William Godwin, an English philosopher who advocated rational­ ism, social reform, and the natural perfectability of man, was the writ­ er Sydney Krause believes had "the most pervasive influence on the intellectual content of [Brown's] writing over all." Brown's novel Arthur Mervyn (1799-1800) was based directly on Godwin's Caleb Wil­ liam s; in both novels, a young man of good character prevails over troubles in a big city. Krause further believes that Brown in his last two novels, the little-read Jane Howard and Clara Talbot, had come to the point of testing out Godwinian moral theory through the actions of his characters. Although influenced by Godwin's theories, Brown recognized their limitations. In fact, Brown's questioning of Godwini­ an moral theory in the last two novels rescues them from accusations of superficiality hurled at them over the years. Brown's place in American letters is assured, perhaps more strongly now than in the decades after his death, when Poe and Hawthorne both recognized him as a literary forebear. Brown's reputation today is buoyed by a crest of new interest in early American literature, but modern readers can find intrinsic value in his novels. As Alexander Cowie notes in an essay in the bicenten­ nial volume of W ieland, Brown is truly "the one early American novel­ ist that the twentieth century seems eager to recover and retain."

For the "Bicentennial Edition of the Writings of Charles Brockden Brown," Sydney Krause received $32,732 in outright funds in 1982 from the Editions category of the Division of Research Programs.

Arthur Mervyn, or, Memoirs of the Year 1793, Brown's third novel, was published in two parts in 1799 and 1800. The theme is the yellow fever plague in Philadelphia.

35 Annotated collection of early William Carlos Williams poems

he publication of this fine, anno­ context, his books of verse reveal its T tated edition of the poems of integrity, as well as the tensions that Searching William Carlos Williams should gave it life. In the radical 1920s, Wil prompt a revaluation of the poet liams sometimes mixed in prose often said to be the most "American" with the verse. The prose passage for Universals of the twentieth century. in "Spring and All" (1923) give voice There's a constant need to re­ to the surrealist anarchism of the discover, and evaluate, his influence. time: "The imagination, freed from Judiciously edited by A. Walton Litz the handcuffs of 'art,' takes the lead! at Home of Princeton University and Christo­ Her feet are bare and not too deli­ pher MacGowan of the College of cate. In fact those who come behind William and Mary, this collection her have much to think of. Hm. Let BY THOMAS D'EVELYN provides an opportunity to consider it pass." Williams's early work. In the midst of this, it's startling By 1939, when this first volume come upon a poem in Williams's ends, the poet from Rutherford, most objective manner. Imagination New Jersey, had written many of his now renders only "the reddish/pur- best short poems and was recog­ plish, forked, upstanding, twiggy/ nized by a small but growing num­ stuff of bushes and small trees..." ber of readers as the presiding genius And yet: "Lifeless in appearance, loci of American modernism. sluggish/dazed spring approaches--" Like Ezra Pound, whom he first and we rejoice. met as a student at the University of The shrill humor of the prose and Pennsylvania, Williams was an icon­ the stoic vigor of the verse are two oclast; unlike Pound, he believed the sides of the same coin. Williams artist had to begin his search for the worked long and hard to displace universal at home; "all art begins in the influence of expatriate moderns the local," he wrote. Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot. He felt Like another stay-at-home, insur­ they had betrayed the promise of ance executive Wallace Stevens (they America: her hope and her lan­ shared some friends and a keen in­ guage. His success can be measured terest in modem art), Williams had a by his influence on Robert Lowell professional career. He was a pedi­ who dominates American poetry atrician, and his local practice was a after the modern generation. He fruitful source of observation of helped Lowell give up rhyme and human nature in joy and in pain and meter. of a deep compassion for the poor. Today some critics associate Wil­ Williams had a vision. Read in liams with the cultural triad of "dem- ocratic culture, modern art, and the New World"! The Collected Poems of William Car­ In the spirit of William's own icono- los Williams: Vol. 1. 1909-1939. Edit­ clasm, then, a revaluation is in order ed by A. Walton Litz and Christopher Litz and MacGowan's edition will be MacGowan. New York: New Directions. a primary tool in this, for they re­ This book review is reprinted by permis­ store the poems, rearranged by Wil- sion from The Christian Science liams himself according to a now- Monitor © 1987, The Christian Science abandoned plan, in their chronologi- Publishing Society. All rights reserved. cal order, and help us see Williams Thomas D'Evelyn is the Monitor's book the iconoclast at work. editor. If Williams has stood for the

36 The Great Figure

Among the rain and lights I saw the figure 5 in gold on a red firetruck moving tense unheeded to gong clangs siren howls and wheels rumbling through the dark city.

-William Carlos Williams

dream of a uniquely American poet­ thing on the fly; spare, economical ceptions. Williams's quest for inner ry, rereading Williams should be language; a sense of spontaneous form springs from his perhaps therapeutic, if not exactly comfort­ composition; fullness of sensuous provincial rejection of the old ones. able, at a time when the notion of presentation; quiet qualification of In one of those prose passages in "genius of America" must be placed feeling: This is all essential Williams. "Spring and All," Williams declares, in quotation marks. "The Great Figure" does seem to "In the composition, the artist does Williams did enjoy destroying the reveal the inner form of an experi­ exactly what every eye must do with old, but he also sought something ence: an event and a response to the life, fix the particular with the uni­ new in its place. He wrote in 1938: event. The event is a public one, and versality of his own person­ "It's not a matter of destroying forms not too complicated for all that, ality. ..." Litz and MacGowan help so much as it is a matter of observa­ though the editors do quote a note us separate the art from the person­ tion, of resensing the problem, of see­ dated 1955 in which Williams points ality, the true universals from Wil­ ing, of comprehending that of which out the contempt he felt for all "great liams's more transient feelings of ar­ the form consists as a form, of rescu­ figures" in the 1920s—which makes tistic enthusiasm. ing that essence and re-forming it." us reread the poem. Williams is more than another But as Litz and MacGowan help us What poets, critics, and readers American myth, and it's a good see, Williams was also after the form have come to appreciate since Wil­ thing to see him as he truly was. of experience— local experience. "The liams's revolution is that inner and Great Figure," the last poem in "Sour outer are not so neatly separable as In 1986 Christopher ]. MacGowan re­ Grapes" (1921) is a good example of his iconoclasm assumes. Traditional ceived $3,000 in outright funds from the this. forms—meter, rhyme—are them­ Summer Stipends Program of the Divi­ The neat match of Populism and selves experiences as well as tech­ sion of Fellowships and Seminars for the artist (or, as we now say, popular niques; used intelligently, they make "The Collected Later Poems of William culture); the act of "catching" some­ possible highly complex poetic per­ Carlos Williams: An Edition."

37 Revamping the Humanities at Community

Colleges BY ELLEN MARSH

Y THE LATE 1970s, the morale ing a single course in literature or B of our humanities faculty was knowing very much about history. pretty low," recalls Thomas Sears, Teachers found that students had lit- history professor at Kirkwood Com­ tle idea what was meant by the hu­ munity College in Cedar Rapids, manities, much less why it was im­ Iowa. Enrollment had been dropping portant to study them. for years. Minimal graduation re­ Kirkwood was not the only com­ quirements in the humanities, cou­ munity college in which the human- pled with a proliferation of human­ ities were in difficulty. In 1980, with ities courses, meant that students NEH support, the American Asso­ could avoid the basic survey courses. ciation of Community and Junior It was possible to graduate with an Colleges published a report that be associate of arts degree without tak- gan, "Humanities in the community

Richland College (above) is a member of the seven-campus Dallas County Community College District. The student body numbers more than 13,000. Right: The historic Mint Building (1898-1901), part of the Communi­ ty College of Philadelphia, once housed the third U.S. Mint in Philadelphia.

38 college need help." Pointing out that through inquiry and verbal expres­ although the humanities were in sion; it should help students under­ trouble in universities, the report, stand the role of values in human Strengthening Humanities in Communi­ life; and it should enable students to ty Colleges, stated that the plight in understand their culture in relation community colleges was even worse. to cultures, past and present." In the 1960s many of these colleges After vigorous debate, research, had been directed toward remedial and visits to other institutions, the and occupational education. Even faculty decided to adapt a model hu­ through a good part of the seventies, manities course from Macalester Col­ it seemed as if the humanities had lege in St. Paul as part of Kirkwood's few friends at community colleges. revitalized humanities curriculum. Today, however, there is a reex­ They called the course "Encounters amination of the role of the human­ in Humanities." ities on these campuses. And with Thomas Sears, who was one of the help from NEH, three community first teachers of Encounters in the colleges serving somewhat different fall of 1981, says it emphasizes a sys­ student populations have reformed tematic approach to the works stud­ and strengthened their humanities ied. "Encounters achieves its goals offerings. by asking a set of questions about a Kirkwood Community College is variety of artifacts and genres related in an area affected by a depressed to the humanities: (1) What are the farm economy. Richland College in elements or the parts that comprise suburban Dallas, Texas, draws its the artifact? (2) What is the unifying student body from a middle-class element? (3) Who is the creator or community with an excellent public author, and what is the historical school system. The inner-city Com­ context of the work? (4) What was munity College of Philadelphia has the creator's purpose? and (5) What many educationally disadvantaged was the effect for the original audi­ students. At each of these colleges, ence, and what is its effect on you?" the humanities programs that NEH Sears is amazed at the amount of in­ has supported are quite different. formation Encounters students have Nevertheless on all three campuses retained when he meets them later the emphasis is not so much on in his history courses. adding new courses as it is on tight­ Teaching this course entails much ening requirements, strengthening preparation, because the professors existing courses, and creating oppor­ often work outside their field of ex­ tunities for faculty development. pertise. However, as Sears says, "We expect our humanities students to be knowledgeable about many different KIRKWOOD subjects, so their professors should COMMUNITY COLLEGE be well-rounded too." In one En­ counters course, Sears, whose spe­ About three-quarters of Kirkwood's cialty is European history, taught graduates intend to continue their rhetoric as exemplified in speeches education eventually. Realizing these by Lincoln and several others; Anti­ students need a better preparation gone (drama); poetry; Plato and Kirkwood Community College, founded in for life after Kirkwood than what Sartre (philosophy); a sampling of 1965, has 7,000 full-time students. had been offered, twelve faculty and music from Scott Joplin to Tchai­ three administrators began to meet kovsky; Chartres cathedral and in a quiet corner of the library in Cedar Rapids architecture; writings 1979 to discuss the future of human­ by Wollstonecraft and Marx, to show ities education at their college. After that contemporary problems have a hammering out their differences, the history; art history; and satire. committee decided on a set of val­ Special events—plays, ballets, lec­ ues: The college's humanities pro­ tures, symphony concerts, visits to gram, they declared, "should foster art galleries—are interspersed at ap­ an educated responsiveness to hu­ propriate times during the course. manities literature and artifacts; it These cultural activities are new ex­ should develop clear thinking periences for most Kirkwood stu­ dents, who often are the first in their families to attend college. Ellen Marsh is a freelance writer in the Encounters courses introduce stu­ Washington, D .C ., area. dents to a range of disciplines, at

39 except for Latin, no new courses have been created and no new fac­ ulty hired. Rather, some professors agreed to expand the courses they were already teaching to include the classics. This approach, in Pascal's view, became "a glue to hold to­ gether all the courses. . . . The con­ cept of the Classics Cluster is not to wait for the students to come to us, but to go where they are. All stu­ dents have to take these courses, no matter what their majors." Helen Molanphy has incorporated classical materials in her introduc­ tory American government course a Richland. Unable to find material in print that would suit her needs, Mo- lanphy developed her own class manual meshing classical literature and culture with information on the American system of government. Her students read parts of Plato's Re- public and the plays Antigone and Iphigenia. They study the Greek ideal of the polis, or civic virtue; the classi- The Richland College theater department presented Lysistrata by Aristophanes as part of the cal foundation of the American re­ Classics Cluster series. public; and classical influences on American art and architecture. Al­ least one of which the faculty hopes for individual study. These opportu­ though she currently stresses the they will pursue in subsequent class­ nities for scholarship are especially contribution of the ancient Greeks es. Sears tells the story of one stu­ important for Kirkwood professors American government and culture. dent, "a big, husky guy, who used because the college has no sabba­ Molanphy plans to include addition- to sit in the back of the room, scowl­ ticals. Kekke says, "It is extremely al material on the Romans, especially ing. Then we got to the introduction satisfying to be building not a pro­ the Roman emphasis on family. to poetry, not one of my strong gram but a college faculty." Sears ex­ At the end of the course, each stu- suits. The class divided into groups, pands on this: "Through the En­ dent must write a paper connecting and lo and behold, this chap was counters project and the professional a contemporary issue with ancient leading his group." A year later, the development opportunities, we have Greece or Rome. Sample question student told Sears that he had taken become a faculty. We know each posed by Molanphy are, "What did every poetry course another teacher other and work together. It has made Greek tragedies have to say about offered and that one of his poems all the difference in the world." war? What were Plato's and Aris­ had been published. totle's ideas about extremes of wealth Rhonda Kekke, the director of and poverty?" Says Molanphy, "The Kirkwood's humanities project, says RICHLAND COLLEGE students learn, perhaps to their sur- the college has refined its human­ prise, that there is nothing new un- ities program by culling approxi­ Approximately two-thirds of the der the sun." mately sixty humanities courses 13,000 students at Richland College In Pascal's view, Richland pro­ down to sixteen core courses; the transfer to a four-year institution im­ fessors have to expand their knowl- others remain as electives. Human­ mediately following graduation. To edge in order to teach the interdisci- ities requirements for all students help meet the needs of these stu­ plinary courses in the Classics have been increased from eight to dents, four years ago the college Cluster. "The NEH-supported sum- twenty quarter hours—in other hired Nanette Pascal as the school's mer seminars, which offer four in- words, Kirkwood students must first Latin teacher and director of a tensive weeks of study with univer- now take five humanities courses, new classics program. sity classicists, are a vital part of our instead of two, to graduate. Pascal, faculty members from faculty development process," she Kekke stresses that faculty devel­ three different departments, and states. Molanphy, for instance, at- opment, primarily focused on those several administrators began meet­ tended the 1987 summer seminar at teaching core humanities courses, is ing to discuss ways to expand the Richland that included lectures 0n an important part of the program. liberal arts program. They eventually the Iliad, art history, Greek plays, The college has held three summer decided on a Classics Cluster pro­ and the social history of ancient seminars led by visiting university gram, which was first offered in the Greece. A second seminar for faculty professors. In addition, humanities 1986 fall semester. An asset of the and local secondary school teachers, faculty can apply for released time program, according to Pascal, is that this time focusing on ancient Rome,

40 will be offered in 1988. The college school teachers. In addition, she and knowledge that middle-class people also sponsors a lecture series during Flisser are organizing a 1989 regional take for granted, disadvantaged peo­ the school year, to which the general conference on cultural literacy for ple are mostly limited to low-level, public is also invited. the Delaware Valley that will include low-paying jobs. Emphasizing the public school teachers as well as subject-matter content of freshman community college professors. composition will help to enlarge our COMMUNITY COLLEGE students' horizons." OF PHILADELPHIA Thomas Sears likes to tell about STUDENT one of his students at Kirkwood, The Community College of Philadel­ RESPONSE POSITIVE "not one of my best students, one phia is meeting the challenge of edu­ who really struggled through the cating students ill-prepared for high­ At Kirkwood and Richland, where Encounters in Humanities course." er education. Beginning in the fall of the new humanities programs are In his critique of the course, the 1988, the college will be incorporat­ now in place, student response has young man wrote: "We thought ing a project for cultural literacy into been heartening. The four sections about things that I thought that I its required freshman composition of Encounters in Humanities that are could never think about." course. Karen Bojar, codirector of the offered each quarter at Kirkwood are project, says she was concerned with filled immediately and are consid­ the problem of cultural illiteracy ered the cornerstone of the human­ The Division of Education Programs among her students long before E.D. ities program. Nanette Pascal is en­ funds community colleges through a va­ Hirsch, Jr., wrote Cultural Literacy: couraged by the growing enrollment riety of programs. In 1984 Kirkwood What Every American Needs to Know. in the classics program at Richland. Community College received $300,630 (Houghton Mifflin, 1987). (Hirsch, "The courses are so appealing that in outright funds and $2,200 in match­ by the way, served as an NEH con­ not only are freshmen and sopho­ ing funds from the division's program for sultant for the college project.) She mores signing up for them, but peo­ Fostering Coherence Throughout an In­ explains that her students "would ple with four-year degrees are en­ stitution. The Community College of read a newspaper article in class rolling to enrich their lives with a Philadelphia received $252,214 in out­ about Solidarity, and wouldn't know study that is not vocational." right funds in 1987 from the Exemplary the history of Poland, the impor­ At the Community College of Phil­ Projects in Undergraduate and Graduate tance of the Catholic church there, or adelphia, Karen Bojar says, "I know Education Program. From the Promoting even where Poland was on the this one course will not compensate Excellence in a Field Program, Richland map." for twelve years of miseducation, but Community College was awarded The project's other director, Grace it is a start. Without certain kinds of $107,258 in outright funds in 1986. Flisser, along with Bojar and several colleagues, realized that the fresh­ man composition course was not as substantive as it might be. "Many professors taught it in a random way, with no specific sequence or texts," Flisser explains. "Often the teachers used a personal experience approach—the 'what I did on my summer vacation' sort of thing— rather than teaching from an ac­ knowledged work of literature." "The idea of cultural literacy is not new," Bojar says. What is new in the Philadelphia project is the setting in which it will function. "We want to reach part-time students who are taught by part-time professors on off-campus locations at off-hours (weekends and evenings)." It is very difficult for students and teachers in this situation to take advantage of the support system in place for daytime, on-campus students. To help solve this problem, Bojar and Flisser are planning a faculty in­ Students in the library of the Community College of Philadelphia, founded in 1964. stitute this summer featuring eight or nine visiting scholars. Bojar is es­ pecially interested in enrolling as summer students the part-time col­ lege faculty who are also public

41 W. BRADFORD WILEY

Chairman, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Publishers Colgate University Economics and English, B.A. Although I first chose economics as ■ HUMANITIES a major, soon thereafter, prompted by a friendly English professor who encouraged me to read eclectically, I chose English literature as a second ALICE major. At Colgate, I was exposed to a STONE AFTER broad cultural experience, which laid ILCHMAN the foundation for a growing intel­ lectual curiosity. As a result, through­ President Sarah Lawrence College out my career as an international book publisher, I have felt at ease. Mount Holyoke College SCHOOL Religion and Philosophy, B.A. Literature gives us vivid glimpses The number of college students majoring into other people's lives, helps us to in the humanities has fallen sharply in develop a sense of their choices and recent years. Between 1975 and 1985, values, and can provide insights into the number of philosophy majors was how an institution, a law, or a pro­ down by 37 percent; foreign language gram affects people. A personal and majors, down by 45 percent; history ma­ WILLIAM S. professional life without the guid­ jors, down by 49 percent; English liter­ COHEN ance and comfort, the exhortation ature majors, down by 59 percent. and accountability, of the Old Testa­ This decline has many causes, among U.S. Senator (R-Maine) ment prophets, Dickens and Shake­ them the notion that study in the hu­ Bowdoin College, Latin, A.B. speare, the Greeks and Tolstoy, manities is of little practical benefit. To­ Homer gave as much insight into the would be impoverished indeed. day's students ask: What does history human character as one would find have to do with earning a living? What prior to Shakespeare. A study of The does philosophy have to do with getting a Odyssey and The Iliad yields great job? knowledge about the courage, nobil­ While it would be an error to suggest ity, and folly that man is capable of. that the benefit of studying the human­ ities is primarily practical, there are im­ portant—and useful—habits of mind that grow out of studying these disci­ plines. History, for example, encourages enlarged perspective by requiring consid­ ROSS REID eration of the longer term. Literature, by MARIAN Senior Vice President and General confronting us with human dilemmas, WRIGHT Counsel, Squibb, Inc. fosters understanding of the moral di­ EDELMAN Whitman College mension of the choices we make. English, A.B. Founder and President Noting how often people prominent in In 1930, Bertrand Russell wrote The Children's Defense Fund various fields recall with gratitude their Conquest of Happiness. This book had Spelman College, Sociology, B.A. time spent studying such subjects as phi­ a profound impact on the rest of my Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace and The losophy and literature, I asked Human­ life. It is a remarkable book, written Kingdom of God Is Within You, Albert ities to contact leaders in media, the with that eloquent simplicity that Camus's The Fall, and Ralph Ellison's arts, politics, and industry for comments later won Lord Russell the Nobel The Invisible Man made indelible im­ on how the humanities have contributed Prize for literature. It tells how he pressions on my youthful mind and to their lives. Here are some of their went from the brink of suicide in his helped bolster my life's values and responses. teens to a full active life into his goals. The individual's responsibil­ Lynne V. Cheney nineties. It should be read as a guide ity—and my responsibility—to work Chairman to happiness. It did wonders for me. for peace and justice and to see and care for other human beings is a lesson I hope never to forget.

42 Many people know that an NEH chal­ enhance humanities programs. Im­ Right job, lenge grant will give an institution a proving the material lot of the existing dollar if it can raise three or four non- staff does not necessarily improve such federal dollars, but few people can tell programs. Wrong Tool: you what you may or may not do with It is not a vehicle for raising funds the four or five dollars thus produced. for speculative enterprises that are still Even those who choose to read the at the planning stage. Rather, like all What challenge grant guidelines discover Endowment funds, a challenge grant is only what programs or activities are el­ awarded only to proposals that dem­ igible for support; the guidelines still onstrate excellence in conception. a Challenge leave a great variety of purposes It is not a way to achieve long-term unmentioned. financial stability in the absence of Grant This situation may lead some appli­ long-range planning. Instead, it is a cants to suppose that, if a purpose they way to achieve long-range purposes have in mind for a challenge grant is that have been carefully planned. not explicitly denied, it must be per­ It is not a way of adding to gifts mitted. Others, who do not read the already pledged or received. An guidelines at all, may allow their fertile NEH challenge grant serves as a isNOT imaginations unbridled license in cit­ lever, not a bonus. BY HAROLD CANNON ing proposed expenditures. Because It is not a launching pad for an in­ panelists are quick to reject proposals stitution that has no history in the hu­ that do not meet the requirements of manities. A proposal to introduce the the challenge grant program, let me humanities may be laudable, but it is list here what a challenge grant is not. not the basis for an application for a It is not a means of gathering sup­ challenge grant. The award of a chal­ port for short-term projects or activi­ lenge grant is, in itself, an expression ties. The Endowment offers short-term of confidence in the quality of the support in other funding categories. grantee's existing programs in the It is not a way of raising funds for an humanities. institution. Instead, a challenge grant And, finally, it is not a way of sup­ helps raise funds for the long-term porting activities outside the disci­ support of a humanities program at a plines of history, literature, and philos­ particular institution. (After all, few in­ ophy, because it is these three areas of stitutions are devoted exclusively to study that make up the great bulk of the humanities.) the territory described by the term It is not a way of supporting human­ humanities. ities programs so that funds can be lib­ erated to meet other institutional pri­ Additional information is available orities, that is, it is not internal relief in the challenge grants guidelines, for the problems of the operating bud­ available from the NEH Office of Pub­ get. Instead, a challenge grant is a way lications and Public Affairs. Doubts to help an institution develop new or and questions about any of these mat­ additional sources of support for a hu­ ters should be taken up directly with manities program. staff in the Endowment's Office of It is not a way of raising the salaries Challenge Grants. The address is of existing staff. A challenge grant must National Endowment for the Hu­ manities, 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W., Room 429, Washington, D.C. Harold Cannon is the director of the 20506, and the telephone num­ NEH Office of Challenge Grants. ber is 202/786-0361.

43 1988 NEH CHALLENGE GRANTS

Archaeology and Woodrow Wilson Birthplace Foundation, Inc., U. of Southern California, Los Angeles; Staunton, VA; Katharine L. Brown: $100,000. To Marshall Cohen: $1,000,000. To support an en­ Anthropology renovate an adjacent building to house a perma­ dowment to strengthen seventeen areas of hu­ nent exhibition on Wilson and to provide an en­ manities collections that have been targeted for dowment of additional operating costs. CA intensive development in the university library. American Numismatic Society, NYC; Leslie A. Yakima Valley Museum & Historical Assn., WA; CU Elam: $300,000. To support the endowment of Versa C. K'ang: $350,000. To renovate and ex­ Virginia Commonwealth U., Richmond; Elske V. graduate seminars, new curatorial and library pand the museum to provide greater storage P. Smith: $150,410. To endow visits by distin­ staff, and computerization and maintenance space, meeting rooms, permanent exhibition guished humanities scholars, visiting lecturers, costs. CO galleries, and archival areas. CA and summer stipends for faculty development. CU Arts— History and Interdisciplinary Criticism Language and Linguistics Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH; Richard R. William Benton Museum of Art, Storrs, CT; John Sheldon: $275,000. To endow three annual hu­ College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA; T. Kish: $250,000. To construct an addition that manities institutes to encourage cross-disciplin­ Frank Vellacio: $600,000. To support the en­ will house seven galleries for permanent collec­ ary research by Dartmouth faculty and visiting dowment of two new chairs in English and clas­ tions and a 250-seat auditorium. CA scholars. CC sics and faculty research in the humanities. CC Johns Hopkins U., Baltimore, MD; Susan K. Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA; History— Non-U.S. Martin: $1,000,000. To endow the selection, Elizabeth T. Kennan: $400,000. To renovate the acquisition, and preservation of library materials Language Learning Center and purchase special in the humanities. CU equipment for language teaching. CC Society for Japanese Studies, Seattle, W A; Susan Knox College, Galesburg, 1L; John P. McCall: B. Hanley: $50,000. To provide long-term sub­ $300,000. To endow library acquisitions in the Literature sidy for the publication of the Journal of lapa- humanities and part of the cost of renovating the nese Studies. CX library building. CC Lewis and Clark College, Portland, OR; Jac­ Haverford College, PA; Harry C. Payne: History— U.S. quelyn A. Mattfeld: $240,000. To support en­ $250,000. To endow a professorship and library dowment of a visiting professorship in cross- acquisitions in comparative literature. CC cultural humanities and to provide library ac­ Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody, W Y; Her­ quisitions in the pertinent disciplines. CC Capital letters following each grant description bert G. Houze: $500,000. To construct a new Newberry Library, Chicago, IL; Charles T. show the type of organization to which the wing to house the Winchester Arms Museum. Cullen: $1,000,000. To support endowment of award was made. CH acquisitions, cataloguing, and new positions in CA Museums Concord Museum, MA; Dennis A. Fiori: reader services, preservation, and technical ser­ CC Four-year colleges $500,000. To endow professional salaries for vices. CK CH Historical societies and houses new positions, additional curatorial positions, Peabody Museum of Salem, MA; Peter Fetchko: CK Research libraries and archives historical research and publications, library ac­ $450,000. To provide an operating endowment, CO Professional organizations and societies quisitions, renovation, construction, and in­ climate control, exhibition casework, security, CU Universities creased operating costs. CA fire suppression, and lighting components for CX Other nonprofit organizations and societies Hiddenite Center, Inc., NC; Dwaine C. Coley: the new Asian Export Art Wing. CA $70,000. To support humanities consultants and Penobscot Indian Nation, Old Town, ME; James developing programs. CH G. Sappier: $135,027. To renovate a former Historic Hudson Valley, Tarrytown, NY; Richard school as a repository for archaeological arti­ F. Halverson: $750,000. To endow new staff facts and historical documents, and to equip the positions, training, publications, and honoraria repository and endow a curatorial position. CA for humanities consultants. CA San Antonio Public Library Foundation, TX; Ir­ Montana Historical Society, Helena; Robert H. win Sexton: $250,000. To improve humanities Archibald: $316,000. To support endowment of collections and endow further acquisitions in the educational, cataloguing, and preservation pro­ humanities. CQ In "Scholarship in the Museum: grams. CH U. of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu; Robert W. Making the World Understandable," Museum of the Confederacy, Richmond, VA; McHenry, Jr.: $750,000. To support endowment by William J. Tramposch (Vol. 8, No. Elizabeth S. Lux: $500,000. To support endow­ of faculty development, visiting professorships, ment of salaries, publications, seminars, and the scholarly conferences, and library acquisitions 6), the director of the NEH-support- ongoing preservation of collections at the White in Asian and Pacific Studies. CU ed slide-lecture project, "The Mate­ House of the Confederacy. CA U. of Illinois, Urbana; David F. Bishop: rial Culture of American Homes," is Penobscot Marine Museum, Searsport, ME; $1,000,000. To support endowment of new li­ Robert D. Farwell: $99,000. To support endow­ brary staff in cataloguing and preservation, sup­ Kenneth L. Ames and not, as stated ment of new positions of librarian and education plies, materials, services, and library acquisi­ on page 5, Ian Quimby. The quota­ assistant, and to cover some construction and tions in the humanities. CU tion attributed to Mr. Quimby fund-raising costs. CA U. of New Hampshire, Durham; Richard H. Please Touch Museum, Philadelphia, PA; Portia Hersh: $500,000. To endow faculty develop­ should have been attributed to Dr. H. Sperr: $125,000. To endow honoraria for hu­ ment, scholarly conferences, lecture series for Ames. Humanities regrets the error. manities scholars, supplements to new curatorial the general public, and a series of summer semi­ salaries, and renovation, archival, and curatorial nars for humanities teachers in New Hampshire work. CA high schools. CU

44

DEADLINES 46 DEADLINES ra oe o l eehn nmes s 202. is numbers telephone all for code Area ihrEuain inHumanities—theEducation Higher lmnayadScnayEuain inEducationHumanities—the Secondary Elementaryand Faculty Humanities InstitutesHumanities Universities—CollegesFaculty and Black atHistorically Institutes Humanities Universities—Collegesand Black School at HighHistorically NEH/Reader'sDigest Teacher-Scholar Program— Education of Division Travel toCollections— Stipends—Summer Fellowships for University Teachers— University Fellowshipsfor Fellowships on the FoundationsFellowshipstheon Society— of American TeachersFellowships forCollege IndependentandScholars— YoungerScholars— Universities—Collegesand Black Program StudyGraduate Historically forFaculty iiin f elwhp n Seminars— and Fellowships of Division Summer SeminarsSummer Teachers—forCollege udlns r vial fo te fieo ulctos n ulcAfis w ots n dac fteapiain deadlines. application the of advance in months two Affairs Public and Publications of Office the from available are Guidelines Summer SeminarsTeachers—Summer forSchool eeomnctos eiefrteda: 786-0282. deaf: the for device Telecommunications Participants Participants Directors Directors oeh . vle 786-0466 eville N B. loseph en rmo 786-0463 Bramson Leon ahen thl 786-0463 itchell M Kathleen layme A. Sokolow 786-0377 Sokolow A. layme Bisson Lillian Ward, Gregory Thomas Sokolow, A. 786-0377 786-0380 Frankfort Frank Adams, Thomas Welles, az am . ooo, hms rgr Ward Gregory Thomas Sokolow, A. layme Katz, y Mxel ht 786-0380 White Maxwell Lyn 786-0466 Beatrice Stith Clark, Maben D. Herring 786-0466 Herring D. Maben Clark, Stith Beatrice Maben D. Herring 786-0466 Herring D. Maben y Mxel ht, abr Ahro, Elizabeth Ashbrook, Barbara White, Maxwell Lyn PrOgram S-/errK S-/errK PrOgram calHal 786-0463 all H ichael M ent Klo 786-0463 Kolson Kenneth Linda Spoerl, Stephanie Quinn Katz, layme Katz, Quinn Stephanie Spoerl, Linda ae D Hrig Krn Fuglie Karen Herring, D. Maben id Sor, tpai Quinn Stephanie Spoerl, Linda Karen Fuglie 786-0466 Fuglie Karen L .M artin, Director 786-0373 Director artin, L .M Guinevere l. criest, Director Director criest, l. Guinevere

tbr 1,1988 ctober O Deadline rh 5 1988 15, arch M 2,1988 ay M a 16,1988 May ue , 1988 1, June rh 5 1989 15, arch M ue , 1988 1, June 1988 1, June uy 15,1988 July 1,1988 ctober O rh 5 1989 15, arch M oebr , 1988 1, November rh , 1989 1, arch M rh , 1989 1, arch M pi 1 1989 1, April rh , 1989 1, arch M 786-0458 beginning aur 1989 January 1989 April aur 1 1989 1, January For projectFor aur 1 1989 1, January 1989 1, January etme 1989September etme 1989September etme 1988September a 1 1989 1, May etme , 19901,September eebr , 1988 1, December a 1 1989 1, May umr 1989 Summer umr 1990 Summer umr 1989 Summer umr 1989 Summer For project Area code for all telephone numbers is 202. Deadline beginning

Division of General Programs-Donald Gibson, Director 786-0257

Humanities Projects in Media— lames Dougherty 786-0278 September 16,1988 April 1, 1989

Humanities Projects in Museums and Historical Organizations— Marsha Semmel 786-0284 June 10, 1988 January 1, 1989

Public Humanities Projects— Wilsonia Cherry 786-0271 September 16,1988 April 1, 1989

Humanities Projects in Libraries— Thomas Phelps 786-0271 September 16, 1988 April 1, 1989

Division of Research Programs-R/cw Ekman, Director 786-0200 Texts— Margot Backas 786-0207

Editions— David Nichols 786-0207 June 1, 1988 April 1, 1989

Translations— Martha Chomiak 786-0207 June 1, 1988 April 1, 1989

Publication Subvention— Margot Backas 786-0207 April 1, 1989 October 1, 1990

Reference Materials— Charles Meyers 786-0358

Tools— Helen Aguera 786-0358 November 1, 1988 July 1, 1989

Access— )ane Rosenberg 786-0358 November 1, 1988 July 1, 1989

Interpretive Research— Dorothy Wartenberg 786-0210

Projects— David Wise 786-0210 October 1,1988 July 1, 1989

Humanities, Science and Technology— Daniel 1ones 786-0210 October 1,1988 July 1, 1989

Regrants— Crale Hopkins 786-0204

Conferences— Crale Hopkins 786-0204 July 1, 1988 April 1, 1989

Centers for Advanced Study— David Coder 786-0204 December 1,1988 July 1, 1989

Regrants for International Research— David Coder 786-0204 March 15, 1989 January 1, 1990

Regrants in Selected Areas— David Coder 786-0204 M arch 15, 1989 January 1, 1990

Division of State Programs — Marjorie A. Berlincourt, Director 786-0254 Each state humanities council establishes its own grant guidelines and application deadlines. Addresses and telephone numbers of these state programs may be obtained from the division.

Office of Challenge Grants -Harold Cannon, Director 786-0361 M ay 1,1988 December 1, 1988

Office of Preservation -George F. Farr, jr., Senior Preservation Officer 786-0570

Preservation— George F. Farr, )r. 786-0570 December 1, 1988 July 1, 1989

U.S. Newspaper Program—leffrey Field 786-.0570 June 1, 1988 January 1, 1989

47 NATIONAL ENDOWMENT SECOND CLASS MAIL FOR THE HUMANITIES POSTAGE & FEES PAID 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW NATIONAL ENDOWMENT Washington, D.C. 20506 FOR THE HUMANITIES PUB. NO. 187526

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