These are odd times, to say the least. Italy is in lockdown, Tel Aviv (where I live, much of the year) is quieter than I’ve ever known it and France, Spain and Germany are not far behind. It remains to see when London will catch up, but I fear it will not be long.
In times of anxiety, I usually turn to the printed matter to quell my fears and after re-reading the magnificent biography of Isaiah Berlin, by Michael Ignatieff, it seemed fitting to pen a few words about this masterly and eloquent book.
Whatever your political persuasion, there is little doubt that Mr Berlin was one of the most prominent and influential philosophers of the 20th century…’The Hedgehog and the Fox’ for example, is a classic text (so much so that Woody Allen incorporated into his movie ‘Husbands and Wives’, in an unforgettably hilarious scene played by Judy Davis, where a woman in the middle of love-making is ruminating on his philosophy!) But this biography goes much further than his opinions - it delves much further. For Berlin had an extraordinary life - from Riga to Petrograd then Oxford and Washington/New York, and alternating between scholar and spy, he was the quintessential wandering Jew.
Isaiah Berlin was born in Riga and, as a child, witnessed the Russian Revolution. His parents fled to England, where he thrived, and it was quite clear from a young age that he was fated to become an academic. Berlin subsequently spent many years at Oxford, teaching and researching, but travelled often. During the Second World War, he spent time in Washington DC, as part of the Anglo-American diplomatic circle (and although Ignatieff does not mention it, there can be little doubt that he was reporting back to MI6). He also returned to Moscow, where there he witnessed first-hand the fate of artists and writers who had dared speak out against Stalin.
During his long life, he rubbed shoulders with the novelists Virgina Woolf and Boris Pasternak, the poet Anna Ahmatova, took afternoon tea with Sigmund Freud and lunched with Winston Churchill.
Berlin was, for sure, a proud British citizen, but never forgot his roots, as a Russian and as a Jew.
Always committed to the establishment of a Jewish state, even though he was an avowed atheist, he clung to the cultural aspects of his faith, celebrating the Passover seder and fasting on Yom Kippur. After the state of Israel was born, in 1948, certain leading Zionists tried to persuade Berlin to move to the Levant and help build the nation
However, Berlin was too attached to European culture and his lifestyle as a Don at All Souls College - as he admitted - to make that ‘sacrifice!’
Philosophically, he was a rational liberal, who argued in favour of pluralism, a ‘social’ socialist (not too leftish however) but, most importantly, a great humanist. Berlin argued passionately against extremism, since (as he saw it) extreme politics (whether in the form of Hitler’s fascism or Stalin’s terror) led to political instability, terrible violence and, ultimately, destruction on a wide scale.
As Berlin himself said, "We are doomed to choose and every choice may entail an irreparable loss. The world we encounter in ordinary experience is one in which we are faced with choices between ends equally ultimate and claims equally absolute, the realization of some of which must inevitably involve the sacrifice of others...”
Here’s a informative video, for anyone who is interested…
Ultimately, this is more a book about by Berlin’s upbringing and extraordinary life experiences than his philosophy, but for anyone who wants to know more, there’s no better place to begin than ‘The Hedgehog and the Fox’ or ‘Two Concepts of Liberty.’
Igantieff has done a fine job capturing the essence of this fascinating and erudite philsopher, making sure that Berlin’s rootless cosmpolitanism shines through at every turn of the page. Moreover, reading this biography gives you as much insight into the history (and the horrors) of the last century as it does the man himself.
How glad I am to have re-read this book!