Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Hostile Book Blurb

Major John J. Stonborough, a nephew of Ludwig Wittgenstein, wrote a damning review of W. W. Bartley's biography, Wittgenstein (Stonborough's review was 'Wittgenstein', The Human World, no. 14 [Feb. 1974]: 78-84). Stonborough said that Bartley and his publisher had "put out a book in which they pee on the graves of men whom honest and upright people admire and respect."

He labeled Bartley's book "a farrago of lies and poppycock." Bartley wore that last remark as a badge of honour, including it as a blurb on the back cover of the 2nd edition of his Wittgenstein biography (Open Court, 1986).

No comments: