The old proposition of Pascal (1623-1662) that man is a reed, but a thinking reed, might be taken with a different emphasis by the modern citizen of a democracy. He thinks, but he feels like a reed bending before centrally generated winds. Ike would certainly pay no attention to this. Herzog tried another approach. Tolstoi (1828-1910) said, "Kings are history's slaves." The higher one stands in the scale of power, the more his actions are determined. To Tolstoi, freedom is entirely personal. The man is free whose condition is simple, truthful - real. To be free is to be released from historical limitation. On the other hand, GWF Hegel (1770-1831) understood the essence of human life to be derived from history. History, memory - that is what makes us human, that, and our knowledge of death: "by man came death." For knowledge of death makes us wish to extend our lives at the expense of others. And this is the root of the struggle for power. But that's all wrong! thought Herzog, not without humour in his despair. I'm bugging all these people - Nehru, Churchill, and now, Ike, whom I apparently want to give a Great Books Course. Nevertheless, there was much earnest feeling in this, too.
(Part of ) Herzog's letter to Eisenhower
Saul Bellow's Herzog
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