The Intellectual Follies: A Memoir of the Literary Venture in New York and Paris.

by L. Abel

“Lionel Abel succeeds in entertaining us with great stories about the artists and writers in Greenwich Village and Paris in the 1930s and ‘40s, and at the same time in shrewdly exposing the moral and political consequences of literary and artistic modernism. The Intellectual Follies is a fascinating memoir on an important subject.” ―Gertrude Himmelfarb A member of that distinctive group of New York intellectuals who came of age during the thirties, Lionel Abel chronicles a half-century of ferment in politics, the arts, and the world of ideas. Along with his spirited analysis of issues and movements, he gives us vivid accounts of his talented contemporaries.

304 pages, Hardcover

First published December 12, 1984

Reviews

[Ronald Wise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading this book was like having a prolonged, but interesting, conversation with Lionel Abel as he reminisced about his personal experiences in the world of the intelligentsia from 1929 on. From the outset, I tried to learn as much as conveniently possible about the people with whom he was acquainted, but had to abandon that effort as it was becoming too burdensome. I suspect this book would be much more enjoyable to readers already familiar with the intellectual elite of that period.

Some of his anecdotes brought back vivid memories of my own aspirations while coming of age in the late 1970s and early 1980s - back when I thought I was part of a movement powerful and unique, while worriedly awestruck by events in the larger world (i.e., Reaganism and a renewed fervor for American exceptionalism). Unlike Abel's acquaintances, though, I don't think any of mine have gone on to be some of the most recognized names in leftist politics, literature, or art. I learned of this memoir from the bibliography of David Lehman's The Last Avant-Garde: The making of the New York School of Poets.