Whatever one may think of Mazlish's startling assertion that in the
middle of the 19th century "generational conflict" became at least
as important a class conflict as "a mechanism of social change,"
there is no denying that this study of what the author calls the
"epic" father-son relationship between James and John Stuart Mill
is a major work of psychohistory - a better, richer book than the
author's popular In Search of Nixon (1972). Mill, as everyone who
has read the famous Autobiography knows, was reared and educated in
strict accordance with the principles of Utilitarianism. It was a
joyless, loveless upbringing which caused the child prodigy who
read Greek and Latin at age five to have one of the best documented
nervous breakdowns in history when he was twenty. Mazlish shows how
this rebellion rooted in a powerful oedipal struggle against his
father's authority became the genesis of classical 19th century
liberalism - of which John Stuart Mill was perhaps the foremost
exponent. For the rest of his life Mill devoted himself to
reconciling his father's quantified, superrationalist world view
with the subjective, experiential truths of Coleridge, Carlyle and
Saint-Simon. Behind this intellectual development lie the women in
the Mills' life - Harriet, the mother never mentioned by her son,
to the point where Mazlish can rightly say of the Autobiography
that it "invokes a new version of immaculate conception, in which
the mother is entirely missing," and Harriet Taylor, beautiful and
talented, with whom Mill lived for nineteen years in a scandalous,
if chaste, menage a trois. For Mill, Harriet Taylor was the final
reconciliation of the awful schism between intellect and feeling
which was the source of both Mill's frightening alienation and his
creativity. And it was the long relationship with this beloved
woman (which quickly became "a parody" of the patriarchal Victorian
household "with Harriet commanding and Mill obeying") that led to
the famous essay The Subjection of Women - the most eloquent
feminist piece ever written by a man. Anti-Freudians will have a
field day, but this is a remarkable book. (Kirkus Reviews)
The story of James and John Stuart Mill is one of the great
dramas of the 19thcentury. In the tense yet loving struggle of this
extraordinarily influential father and son, we can see the genesis
of evolution of Liberal ideas-about love, sex, and women, wealth
and work, authority and rebellion-which ushered in the modern age.
The result of more than a decade of research and reflection, this
is a study of the relationship between James Mill, the self-made
utilitarian philosopher who tried (with only partial success) to
shape his son in his own image. Mazlish integrates psychology and
intellectual history as part of his larger and continuing effort to
spur deeper understanding of the character, limitations, and
possibilities of the social sciences.
John Stuart Mill's rebellion against a joyless, loveless
upbringing, one in strict accordance with the principles of
Utilitarianism, was rooted ina powerful Oedipal struggle against
his father's authority. Mazlish describes this rebellion as playing
an important role in the genesis of classical nineteenth century
liberalism. Behind this intellectual development were the women in
Mills' life: Harriet the mother, never mentioned by her son in his
autobiography, and Harriet Taylor, with whom Mill lived in a
scandalous, if chaste, menage a trois. It was this long
relationship which informed his famous essay "The Subjection of
Women," one of the most eloquent feminist statements ever written.
A work of brilliant historical research and psychological insights,
James and John Stuart Mill shows how the nineteenth-century
struggle of fathers and sons shaped the social transformation of
society.
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