The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell

Fülszöveg

BERTRAND RUSSELL AND
PATRICIA RUSSELL
i
The Amberley Papers
Lord and Lady Amberley were the parents of Bertrand Russell. Amberley was the eldest son of Lord John Russell, the Whig Prime Minister and of his second wife Frances; and he married Kate, the fourth daughter of Lord Stanley of Alderley in 1864.
In one sense these two families were truly representative of the best of Victorian life and character; but in another sense they represented nothing but themselves, for they were all great individualists, and some of them were reformers far ahead of their time, verging, by Victorian standards, on the eccentric. The Amberleys, for instance, were the object of much abuse for their advocacy of 'Malthusianism' and the sexual emancipation of women, among many other causes that were calculated to infuriate contemporary society.
The Amberleys were voluminous letter-writers and journal-keepers, so were their relatives and associates. Their papers therefore provide a vivid and... Tovább

Fülszöveg

BERTRAND RUSSELL AND
PATRICIA RUSSELL
i
The Amberley Papers
Lord and Lady Amberley were the parents of Bertrand Russell. Amberley was the eldest son of Lord John Russell, the Whig Prime Minister and of his second wife Frances; and he married Kate, the fourth daughter of Lord Stanley of Alderley in 1864.
In one sense these two families were truly representative of the best of Victorian life and character; but in another sense they represented nothing but themselves, for they were all great individualists, and some of them were reformers far ahead of their time, verging, by Victorian standards, on the eccentric. The Amberleys, for instance, were the object of much abuse for their advocacy of 'Malthusianism' and the sexual emancipation of women, among many other causes that were calculated to infuriate contemporary society.
The Amberleys were voluminous letter-writers and journal-keepers, so were their relatives and associates. Their papers therefore provide a vivid and valuable record of the Victorian scene, and of many of the controversies ofthe time; but not the least fascinating feature ofthe book is the self-portrayal of two very remarkable people in their personal and public milieux.
This book was first published in 1937 and has been reprinted without change.
Demy 8vo
Bertrand Russell: Philosopher of the Century
ESSAYS IN HIS HONOUR
A. J. AYER • MAX BORN • WERNER BLOCH • C. D. BROAD • ERICH FROMM • ALDOUS HUXLEY • GEORG KREISEL • CONSTANCE MALLESON LINUS PAULING • VICTOR PURCELL • HILARY PUTNAM • W.V.Q,UINE HERBERT READ • HANS REICHENBACH • MARIA REICHENBACH DANA SCOTT ¦ MICHAEL SCOTT ¦ JULIAN TREVELYAN
EDITED BY RALPH SCHOENMAN
Demy 8vo
¦r
SECOND IMPRESSION
¦ l ,

The life of Bertrand Russell, probably the greatest of living philosophers, stretches back over nearly a century. Indeed, one of his earliest memories is of his grandfather telling of a visit to Napoleon on the island of Elba. Descendant of one of England's most illustrious families, and a great thinker in his own right— philosopher, mathematician, scientist, educationist, politician, and a writer of incomparable lucidity and style—renowned for his advanced views on many controversial questions. Earl Russell's thought and character have left a profound mark on the generations. Views for which he was once'an outcast are now commonly held by a broad segment ofthe people, and his work has been publicly crowned by the award of an O.M. and a Nobel Prize.
In ninetyfour years of multi-faceted activity, the range of Russell's friendships has been vast, and through his story move such people as his distinguished . grandparents, his very unusual parents (Lord and Lady Amberley), his brother Frank and Uncle Rollo, Gladstone, Browning, the philosophers Whitehead, Moore and Bradley, the Trevelyans, the Webbs, Shaw, Pearsall Smith, Joseph Conrad, T. S. Eliot, Ottoline Morrell and countless others. Simply to read this first half of the autobiography (up till 1914) is to enjoy a portrait in breadth of a fascinating epoch of English social and intellectual life. A concluding volume will follow.
In his prologue Russell explains: 'Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and thither, in a wayward course, over a deep ocean of anguish, reaching to the very verge of despair.' This is an uninhibited story and as such it will probably, in the publishers' view become a classic, like the Confessions of Rousseau.
Jacizet photograph
Copyright Lotte Meitner-Graf, London Vissza