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Article: Jewish intellectuals and the "deep places of the imagination".(Lionel Trilling)
- Article from:
- Shofar
- Article date:
- March 22, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 University of Nebraska Press. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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This essay considers whether American Jewish intellectuals have achieved the sublime combination of emotion and intellect characteristic of the very greatest art. Lionel Trilling is a keystone figure here, one cut off from his Jewish past by assimilationist tendencies and tied to an unfulfilling middle class liberalism. Trilling's only novel, The Middle c/the Journey, succeeds as an intellectual exploration yet fails in portraying full-bodied characters emblematic of the "deep places of the imagination." Only occasionally does Trilling begin to touch upon the fullest artistic vision, notably in his short story "Of This Time of That Place," and in his literary-critical ...