{"product_id":"treason-of-the-intellectuals-9781912475315","title":"Treason of the Intellectuals","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn an era when intellectual and artistic life is increasingly being distorted by political dogmatism, Julien Benda's \u003ci\u003eTreason of the Intellectuals\u003c\/i\u003e is a classic that speaks with a new and extraordinary urgency. Benda's essay, published by ERIS in a new translation by David Broder, offers an incisive account of interwar Europe that ranges from the influence of Friedrich Nietzsche and Georges Sorel to the activities of Charles Maurras and Benito Mussolini. It also serves, however, as a remarkably timely warning against the seduction of modern intellectuals by tribal loyalties and antipathies. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eRather than detaching themselves from communal ties as their forebears had done, Benda argues that twentieth-century European intellectuals willingly subordinated the disinterested pursuit of truth to the servicing of group interests (particularly the interests of their own nations and social classes). Partisan agendas had a corrosive effect not only on moral and political philosophy, but also on the writing of history and fiction. With its penetrating analyses of nationalism and of the tensions between group identity and intellectual freedom, \u003ci\u003eTreason of the Intellectuals\u003c\/i\u003e is as necessary a book in the twenty-first century as it was in the twentieth.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eJulien Benda (1867-1956) was a novelist and critic. His polemical writings ranged from\u003ci\u003e Dialogues in Byzantium\u003c\/i\u003e (on the Dreyfus affair) to an appraisal of the philosophy of Henri Bergson; in later life he was a fierce critic of the Vichy Republic. Among his other books are \u003ci\u003eThe Yoke of Pity\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eUriel's Report\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eExercises of a Man Buried Alive\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eDavid Broder is a widely published translator and the author of \u003ci\u003eFirst They Took Rome: How the Populist Right Conquered Italy\u003c\/i\u003e. He is currently Europe Editor at \u003ci\u003eJacobin\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eMark Lilla is Professor of the Humanities at Columbia University and a prizewinning essayist for \u003ci\u003eThe New York Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e and other publications worldwide. His books include \u003ci\u003eThe Shipwrecked Mind: On Political Reaction\u003c\/i\u003e; \u003ci\u003eThe Stillborn God: Religion, Politics, and the Modern West\u003c\/i\u003e; \u003ci\u003eThe Reckless Mind: Intellectuals in Politics\u003c\/i\u003e; and\u003ci\u003e The Once and Future Liberal: After Identity Politics\u003c\/i\u003e. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Eris","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50627428057362,"sku":"9781912475315","price":27.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_db55fc47-24f7-43de-aa30-e5bf998a44a4.jpg?v=1732673828","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/treason-of-the-intellectuals-9781912475315","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}