Jacques Barzun, Wisdom and Grace

by Rebecca Bynum (February 2012)

Jacques Barzun: Portrait of a Mind
By Michael Murray
Frederic C. Beil (2011)
384 pp.

Marcel Duchamp, Guillaume Apollinaire, Fernand Léger, Marie Laurencin, Jean Metzinger, Stefan Zweig and Ezra Pound. In addition, his grandmother impressed him deeply with her stories and descriptions of the manners and habits 19^th Century European life. Barzun’s deep grasp of historic currents and of how each century is shaped by ideas rooted in the previous one was undoubtedly conceived in these early years. He was literally born into a “house of intellect.”

The French Race, to her. The following video was produced in 2007 when the graduates of Columbia University presented Barzun with its Great Teacher Award.

A Stroll with William James (2002).

Throughout his long career, Barzun was concerned with placing men in their proper historical perspective and with giving them their proper historic weight. Throughout his work, Barzun goes about correcting the popular misapprehension of those same figures with unmatched skill and his distinctive and graceful style. He also has a gift for highlighting areas or qualities a particular writer may not be particularly known for: Dorothy Sayers on theology, Oscar Wilde’s criticism, Walter Bagehot’s historical work. His short essay on Abraham Lincoln as an artist contained in A Jacques Barzun Reader is a masterpiece, showcasing his easy-seeming style which, while compact, is never cramped or rushed. All aspiring young writers should be encouraged to read Barzun.

1) Barzun, Jacques, From Dawn to Decadence (Harper Collins, 2000) pg. 16
2) A Jacques Barzun Reader, edited by Michael Murray (Harper Collins, 2002) pg. 35
3) Ibid., pg. 294
4) Barzun, Jacques, From Dawn to Decadence (Harper Collins, 2000) pg. 11
5) Murray, Michael, Jacques Barzun: Portrail of a Mind (Frederic C. Beil, 2011)

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