"Mr. Chesterton's brain swarms with ideas; I see no evidence that it thinks."
— Eliot, T. S. (1888-1965)
Author
Work Title
Date
1918
Metaphor
"Mr. Chesterton's brain swarms with ideas; I see no evidence that it thinks."
Metaphor in Context
James's critical genius comes out most tellingly in his mastery over, his baffling escape from, Ideas; a mastery and an escape which are perhaps the last test of a superior intelligence. He had a mind so fine that no idea could violate it. ... In England, ideas run wild and pasture on the emotions; instead of thinking with our feelings (a very different thing) we corrupt our feelings with ideas; we produce the public, the political, the emotional idea, evading sensation and thought.... Mr. Chesterton's brain swarms with ideas; I see no evidence that it thinks. James in his novels is like the best French critics in maintaining a point of view, a view-point untouched by the parasite idea. He is the most intelligent man of his generation. (Little Review , 1918)
Categories
Provenance
Listening to NPR (Michael Krazny interviewing Epstein)
Date of Entry
07/21/2003
Date of Review
10/23/2003
