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The following books by Robert Paul Wolff are available on Amazon.com as e-books: KANT'S THEORY OF MENTAL ACTIVITY, THE AUTONOMY OF REASON, UNDERSTANDING MARX, UNDERSTANDING RAWLS, THE POVERTY OF LIBERALISM, A LIFE IN THE ACADEMY, MONEYBAGS MUST BE SO LUCKY, AN INTRODUCTION TO THE USE OF FORMAL METHODS IN POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY.
Now Available: Volumes I, II, III, and IV of the Collected Published and Unpublished Papers.

NOW AVAILABLE ON YOUTUBE: LECTURES ON KANT'S CRITIQUE OF PURE REASON. To view the lectures, go to YouTube and search for "Robert Paul Wolff Kant." There they will be.

NOW AVAILABLE ON YOUTUBE: LECTURES ON THE THOUGHT OF KARL MARX. To view the lectures, go to YouTube and search for Robert Paul Wolff Marx."





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Friday, February 15, 2013

MY NEW TOY

Emboldened by my success in locating my Marx article and uploading it to box.net, I went looking for my 1987 review of Allan Bloom's The Closing of the American Mind, which achieved a certain cult fame in some circles [the late Christopher Hitchens was a fan.]  It is, I think, the funniest thing I have ever written, an absolutely perfect send-up.  It is now on box.net, and is worth a read.  It is only two printed pages long.

11 comments:

Lounger said...

BRAVO!
Thank you for taking this gem from the drawer and placing it in the light to share once again.

C Rossi said...

A delightful, funny, and annihilating review of a fatuous constipated book about which so much silly nonsense was written and said. The only review I can think of that so completely undermines the argument of the book reviewed is Chomsky review of B. F.
Skinner's Verbal Behavior, which makes the case that on Skinner's assumptions we would all be ever mute and analphabetic. Chomsky's review, however, doesn't have the virtue of brevity or the pleasures of humor. Thanks for posting this.

C Rossi said...

I should have written, "the only 'other' review" Chomsky's long review is available here: http://www.chomsky.info/articles/1967----.htm

Robert Paul Wolff said...

Many thanks for the comment. I remember Noam's review, of course. It caused quite a stir. Noam is marvelous.

Anonymous said...

Professor Wolff,

It's a phenomenal review, and even funnier are the dyspeptic replies from straussians. It's available on JSTOR in a separate file entitled "Will the Real Allan Bloom Please Stand Up"

Anonymous said...

Professor Wolff,

It's a phenomenal review, and even funnier are the dyspeptic replies from straussians. It's available on JSTOR in a separate file entitled "Will the Real Allan Bloom Please Stand Up"

Magpie said...

Paraphrasing Oscar Wilde: "Life imitates Literature more than Literature imitates Life".

Robert Paul Wolff said...

Yes, and Bellow went on the write Ravelstein!

trane said...

Marvelous!

Will said...

Oh, man. It fell to me a bit over a decade ago to write an essay on the French equivalent of Bloom's book, Finkelkraut's La Defaite de la Pensee. I concluded, "Voila la defaite de Finkelkraut." My instructor informed me that he did find mirth in this.

Robert Paul Wolff said...

Good grief, I thought the French were the past masters of the witty put down. They have come down in the world.