Once-beautiful friendships, it's not always flavorful

Author: Xu Rong

Source: Justice Network

Cover of Edith Wharton's autobiography My Age of Innocence

Edith Watton and Henry James were good friends.

As a young man, Edith Wharton wanted to meet Henry James, already a well-known writer, who was 19 years apart in age and had two chances. For the first time, she carefully selected a dress for herself to look at her most beautiful. "I couldn't imagine, apart from my youthful countenance and beautiful skirt, that would be worthy of the eyes of personable men."

The second time, the focus of the dress changed to hats, which, according to Famous Writers and Their Wardrobes, later became Walton's iconic style of dress, and her taste was good: "As soon as he opened his mouth, I could summon up the courage to tell him how much I liked reading his Daisy Miller and Portrait of a Lady." However, he noticed neither my hat nor the person wearing it. ”

Both of these attempts failed, but they eventually became friends, very good friends.

When she mentioned it to him many years later, he told her that he didn't remember those two things at all! As for the meeting that made them really know each other, no one could remember what day it was, nor where it was. It seemed as if they had suddenly seen each other, and from then on, as he wrote to her in February 1910, he said, "never again."

There is also a pair of such friendships, and when they first met, the urgent mood of one party was very similar.

Wittgenstein was the youngest child in the family. Three of the above brothers committed suicide one after another, and they were in a class of rising wealth and status, but they had a tendency to self-destruct. For Wittgenstein, he needed to confirm that he had a certain talent as a basis for survival, and philosophy was a direction he considered.

In October 1911, Wittgenstein went to Cambridge and eagerly went to the room of the famous philosopher Russell to introduce himself. He began attending Russell's speeches, sometimes refuting his idols with his own arguments, but would later follow Russell to his room, where the two ushered in late at night in a heated philosophical discussion.

At first, Russell was a little annoyed with his new student, saying in a letter to his lover, Madame Ottoline Morel, that "my German friends are simply torturing me". A few days later, he wrote: "My German, he seems to be quite powerful and convincing"; "My German engineer, I suppose, he was a fool, and he thought it was understandable to have little experience – I asked him to admit that there were no rhinos in the room, but he wouldn't do that."

After reading a manuscript by Wittgenstein, Russell's attitude toward Wittgenstein immediately changed. He told Oteline that the manuscript was "very good, much better than what my British students wrote", adding that "I will definitely encourage him." Maybe he'll do big things." Russell realized that Wittgenstein was a "promising young man." The two soon ended the mode of teaching and learning and began discussing philosophy on an equal footing.

Friendship is important to each of them. Wittgenstein later told friends that Russell's encouragement had led him to be sure he was saved and ended his nine years of loneliness and pain, during which he kept thinking about suicide.

These two beautiful friendships are very close at the beginning, but the ending is not very different.

Edith Wharton and Henry James were lifelong good friends. Although some of their views on literary creation do not seem to be consistent later, it does not affect their common love for literature and their respective creative explorations.

Edith Walton commented on Henry James's work: "I was particularly interested in James's theory and practice of skill, yet I still think that he pursued technique too much, even at the expense of the life of the novel—a natural fit."

"The practice of his theory has also bothered me. Although his later novels are rich in profound moral beauty, it seems to me that they are increasingly devoid of mood and detached from the tasteful human world in which we live. ”

In her personal memoir, The Age of Innocence, Edith Walton writes about other friends with praise, without a single word of criticism, but the part that writes about Henry James is the most detailed, and she has the most ridicule about him. It wasn't disrespectful to him, she was trying to present the most complete and authentic Henry James in her mind, and to tell everyone that it was her reward for their friendship.

Russell and Wittgenstein's friendship was ultimately "drifting apart."

Initially, Russell had always encouraged Wittgenstein, but Wittgenstein had obviously grown unusually quickly and was absolutely real. His impatient and arrogant personality is not tolerated by everyone. Wittgenstein became increasingly critical of Russell's ideas and developed his own ideas of logic, dominating their conversations. When Russell presented Wittgenstein with a manuscript of the theory of knowledge he was studying, Wittgenstein's reaction was extremely ruthless. Russell described the situation: he said it was completely wrong. I couldn't understand his objections, but I felt like he must be right, and he saw what I was missing.

Russell considered this criticism to be the most important event of his life, as it made him realize that he could no longer do any more philosophical research. "My impulse shattered, like a breakwater where the waves crashed. I was completely desperate. Russell stopped writing his manuscript, which was published only after his death.

Wittgenstein unceremoniously commented on Russell in front of his friend, who recorded: "It is strange why Wittgenstein became like this... Wittgenstein was a completely honest man with strict standards for the work he did. In view of this, he is very demanding of himself, and perhaps impressive is his ruthlessness in criticizing others. ”

The last time they met at the Moral Sciences Club at Cambridge University, the two passed each other without speaking.

Two stories, two pairs of good friends, teachers and friends, have talked with each other, and have had different views, and finally one pair has maintained a friendship for life, and the other pair has nothing to say when they meet. Perhaps philosophy is more troublesome than literature. Literature acknowledges man's weakness, philosophy tries to teach man to overcome his own weakness, and in the end he tries not to succeed.

There are always some friendships that were once good, and the ending is not perfect. However, if there has ever been a friendship in front of you, it has largely enriched your mind, heart, and prompted you to transform into a more complete self, then whether it is high mountains and flowing water, or walking on the road, this will be a very rare and precious memory, and even accompany a lifetime.

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