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Book Review: the Life of John Maynard Keynes

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Book Review: the Life of John Maynard Keynes The Life of John Maynard Keynes. By R. F. HARROD. Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York. 674 pages. c. 1951. RANTED THAT KEYNES was the most in- years. His intellectual habits intensified. 411 G fluential economist of his generation, the ques- famous Monday Evenings, developed from the tion that other economists and wide-awake laymen Political Study Club, continued until the first have pondered is, Why? What was the touch- World War. He worked with the Young Turks. stone of this great success ? If this biography He founded a liberal weekly. Throughout life he answers that question it is the book they want. maintained close association with Cambridge, often The explanation begins with the Norman Con- at no salary. Always he looked for the brilliant quest when Keynes' ancestors took root in England. minds among each generation of undergraduates, It had been a family of substance for centuries not limiting his selections to economists. They when Keynes was born in 1883. His father, a were brought together in small groups and given distinguished don at Cambridge University, de- every mental stimulation he could contrive. They voted himself to logic, political economy, and ad- sharpened their keen wits, potency of ideas, power ministration ; his mother, a graduate of Cambridge's of expression, on each other. Some of the lustrous first college for women, was a pioneer in social intellects in England developed from these groups. work, some of which was taken over by public Keynes kept in touch with them. Undoubtedly it agencies. Both outlived him. He had every en- was through these individuals that he radiated couragement to endeavor as measured by the high- much of his influence. est standards, and he apparently inherited his life- The manifold benefits that Keynes extended to long interest in improvement and reform. the arts widened his influence tremendously. His So potent does Harrod consider the influence of early leanings were greatly stimulated by his asso- Keynes' background and student years at Cam- ciation for a dozen years with the brilliant Blooms- bridge that he devotes to them a third of this per- bury Group which had wide influence in England sonal biography, as he calls this magnificent and beyond. Stephen Leslie, the philosopher, Lyt- volume. ton Strachey, the individualistic and iconoclastic Economists know the outline of Keynes' work biographer, Virginia and Leonard Woolf who in economic thought and public affairs. They know opened new vistas in literature, Dundan Grant, tisk his books and many of his multitudinous articles forward-looking painter, and many more, formil/ and speeches. Space here allows only reminders. a nucleus in London, fermenting with ideas, re- But Harrod, who worked with Keynes, goes into belling against the stuffy and regimented, seeking all of this at length, with manifest understanding. new ways and new outlooks. He never lost touch Of each book he gives the setting, motivation, aims, with them. Later such diverse spirits as the Mase- method of work, outlines the influence or effect. fields, the Sitwells, Lowe Dickinson, Bertrand Each of the great public events and movements Russell, G. E. Moore, Richard Kahn, and Joan with which Keynes was associated is covered. Robinson were among his intimates. Influences of Keynes' years at Cambridge differ From undergraduate years Keynes frequently greatly in intensity and variety from those in our traveled on the Continent, often with celebrated universities. Although he rowed and played ten- persons who had invaluable connections. Later, nis, golf, and bridge, collected books and displayed others felt gratified to accompany him. He drew keen interest in all the arts, he was early known as everywhere minds that were forceful and penetrat- a brilliant student in discussion, debate, and stud- ing, he loved excitement and adventure, in reality ies—dominated by mathematics, political economy, and in the realm of ideas. logic, philosophy, psychology. At first he was un- His sponsorship of the arts made him eminent der the influence of Alfred Marshall—not always. in fields wherein economists rarely venture. He He was soon drawn into the highly selective and helped to establish the Art Theater in Cambridge mentally stimulating small groups that these an- which presented only the best ; he was active in cient universities foster, in which seminar and less the London Artists Association, the Arts Council formal methods reach their peak of excellence. of Great Britain, the National Gallery; when Lon- He was so advanced in thought and outlook that don was half in ruins, he founded the Committee the line is faint between his student and faculty for the Encouragement of Arts throughout Great 106 Britain. He devoted himself primarily to the tary Fund, International Trade Organization, nces, in which these instrumentalities are no- World Economic Conference, International Bank, fitously weak. In England's dark hours he broad- Bretton Woods, and the American loan negotia- cast his ideas on Relation between Art and the tions, necessitating eight stays in this country, is State. To help France make its war repayments well-known. Many of our public figures are on he coaxed an appropriation from the Treasury to these pages. Keynes was frequently ill but he buy Degas' paintings for the National Gallery. worked with seeming undimmed vigor. If his al- Keynes' surprising marriage to Lydia Lopokova, ways relentless methods of debate (with a soft the prima ballerina of the Russian ballet, is to be voice) at times grew embittered, in general he counted among the salient influences in his life, summoned his tact and persuasive powers to help and, in turn, a cause of his influence. Harrod to save Britain in the crisis. divides Keynes life into the phase of criticism, 20 As Harrod apparently has somewhat the same years ; the creative phase, 10 years. The strict remarkable complex of talents as Keynes, this biog- discipline, work, training, and control, to which raphy probably ranks with the best. His declared the Russian ballerinas are subjected, told her what aim is to give a balanced story and appraisal but he needed for creative endeavor ; her spontaneity, many pages glow with a fascination of their own. poise, perception, and finely attuned mind enabled His characterizations of Keynes and these celebri- her to create the right atmosphere without too ties whose lives were intertwined are striking much separation from friends and activities. She vignettes yet other chapters disclose a panorama of was with him on all his arduous later journeys, the social, intellectual, and political life of the knowing that, through a heart ailment, his stress- times. His summing up is masterly although he ful ardent life hung by a thread. Marrying Lydia says the time is not ripe for a final appraisal. As was the best thing he ever did, said Mrs. Alfred Keynes was a rationalist Harrod attempts a ra- Marshall—and she should know. tional explanation of his influence. He examines, in Is it necessary to outline here the great phases a way that many readers will find convincing, the of public life, national and international, with charges of inconsistency in the light of Keynes' ad- which Keynes was associated? A listing could fill vancing and pioneering spirit, and the charges of page. Harrod goes into each in detail. The too great ability to make spectacular personal finan- Sng controversy over the gold standard in Eng- cial gain. He traces Keynes' sometimes fluctuating land and the Bank of England, his management influence and popularity. He does not offer his of England's external finances, the grinding work valuations alone, although he classes Keynes with at Versailles and Paris after the first World War, Adam Smith and Ricardo. Characterizations are the lost battle for economically repayable repara- quoted from Alfred Marshall and other friends tions from Germany, drawing up a new currency and critics through the years. for Russia, the Keynes Plan which perhaps fore- His own belief, well substantiated, seems to be shadowed the Marshall Plan, the Council of Four, that Keynes' influence came from an amazing the Treaty of Peace. These are only a few. amalgamation of heredity, intellectual environ- Keynes spoke and published throughout, reach- ments, a keen and exploring mind of a scintillating ing for ever wider audiences. He began writing quality, remarkable diversity of interests and con- for the most influential newspapers and foreign tacts, amazing versatility, a liking for concentrated journals, with an epigrammatic brilliance and and sustained work, courage and daring, and end- cogency. He was awarded a peerage in 1942. less resource and ideas. By World War II he believed that his vocation So the memorial services in 1946 at Westminster lay in public affairs and high international politics. Abbey and at the Cathedral in Washington did His work relating to the International Mone- not mark the end, for ideas do not die with a man. Caroline Sherman 107 .
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