Enough already
At first glance, this book has the odds stacked against it: it is a reproduction of spoken lectures, published posthumously without the speaker/writer's explicit consent, against the backdrop of an ambitious concomitant work that was never finished. What it does have in its favour, though, is the fact that the person in question is Sir Isaiah Berlin, one of the most extraordinary thinkers of our time. This perhaps sums up the arguments for and against it.
There is no doubt that Berlin's renowned clarity of thought and preciseness of language shows through even in these lectures, part of the A.W. Mellon series on fine art. The conversational texture is evident, as expected, but what comes as a surprise is the bizarre, almost didactic feel of Berlin's avuncular informality contrasting with his scholarship's obvious depth and breadth of his scholarship. More importantly, and attractively, like his other works, the passion for the subject at hand without narrow prejudice shows through convincingly, lending the whole book a sense of deliberate, yet supple, purpose.
But the whole enterprise feels compromised; Henry Hardy, the editor, admits that "Berlin himself steadfastly refused to allow this transcript...well aware that some of what he said was ... acceptable from the podium, maybe, but not on the printed page." Hardy has done his best in editing with a light hand, and has perhaps managed to preserve the spirit of the lectures whilst 'tidying up'; and this undoubtedly deserves praise.
Yet this does not wholly mitigate the fact that the book lacks the tightness of Berlin's written work, or the spontaneity of a pure transcript, but instead falls somewhere in between, unsatisfactorily. The intention of the book has to be called into question, although it is interesting to say the least, it does not add to Berlin's legacy (since the transcripts are available) or allow us an illuminating glimpse into the man. Rather, it almost seems to be an attempt at profiteering.
If one can brush aside these somewhat unkind considerations, then undoubtedly this book is still worth a read, especially if you're a fan of Berlin and want to round off your collection. Just keep in mind that this is in many ways a reduced and edited version of what may have been a great book, an unfilled frame of a great.
yx
18th Nov 1999