Absent Minds

Intellectuals in Britain

By: Stefan Collini

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Hardcover | 1 April 2006

At a Glance

Hardcover
540 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
23.39 x 15.6 x 3.02

Hardcover

$100.73

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A richly textured work of history and a powerful contribution to contemporary cultural debate, Absent Minds provides the first full-length account of "he question of intellectuals" n twentieth-century Britain--have such figures ever existed, have they always been more prominent or influential elsewhere, and are they on the point of becoming extinct today?

Recovering neglected or misunderstood traditions of reflection and debate from the late nineteenth century through to the present, Stefan Collini challenges the familiar cliche that there are no "real" intellectuals in Britain. The book offers a persuasive analysis of the concept of 'the intellectual' and an extensive comparative account of how this question has been seen in the USA, France, and elsewhere in Europe. There are detailed discussions of influential or revealing figures such as Julien Benda, T. S. Eliot, George Orwell, and Edward Said, as well as trenchant critiques of current assumptions about the impact of specialization and celebrity. Throughout, attention is paid to the multiple senses of the term "intellectuals" and to the great diversity of relevant genres and media through which they have communicated their ideas, from pamphlets and periodical essays to public lectures and radio talks.

Elegantly written and rigorously argued, Absent Minds is a major, long-awaited work by a leading intellectual historian and cultural commentator, ranging across the conventional divides between academic disciplines and combining insightful portraits of individuals with sharp-edged cultural analysis.

Industry Reviews

`...fascinating...Absent Minds is a provocative and impressive read.' Dominic Sandbrook, The Telegraph `Absent Minds is a tour de force by a scholar and critic at the height of his powers' James Wilsdon, Financial Times `Stefan Collini promises a panoramic view of British intellectuals in the 20th century ... with contemporary disquisitions on 'media studies' and celebrity. Collini is expert at the urbane insertion of a dagger: Should be provocative fun.' Steven Poole, The Guardian `Collini should be praised for his rigour and integrity....Absent Minds is a provocative and impressive read.' Dominic Sandbrook, Daily Telegraph `This magnificently perceptive survey of the British intellectual caste will prove hard to outstrip as the definitive account of its subject' Terry Eagleton, New Statesman, reprinted in Guardian `a frequently brilliant survey' Mark Bostridge, Independent on Sunday `As a history of thinking about intellectuals, Absent Minds is a valuable study.' Kenan Malik, Sunday Telegraph

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