A Friendship That Lasted a Lifetime: The Correspondence Between Alfred Schutz and Eric Voegelin
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A Friendship That Lasted a Lifetime: The Correspondence Between Alfred Schutz and Eric Voegelin
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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780826272393 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | University of Missouri Press |
| Publication date: | 02/21/2011 |
| Series: | The Eric Voegelin Institute Series in Political Philosophy , #1 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 256 |
| File size: | 615 KB |
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A Friendship That Lasted a Lifetime
THE CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN Alfred Schütz and Eric VoegelinUniversity of Missouri Press
Copyright © 2011 The Curators of the University of MissouriAll right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-8262-1911-4
Chapter One
The Letters* * *
1. Schütz to Voegelin
Grosvenor Hotel London, S.W.1.
July 31, 1938
Dear Friend:
I will only be in London for a few days, but I wanted to tell you how glad I am to know that you are now safe and secure. I hope you have had good news from your wife. I have been told that you intend to go to Paris in August. I will be there between the 8th and the 12th, and then travel to Villers-sur-Mer in Normandy for a ten-day vacation with my family. I will definitely return to Paris by the end of the month, so please try to arrange your affairs so that we can meet and have a long talk. In Villers-sur-Mer I will be staying at the Hotel Normandy. In Paris my private telephone number is Trocadero 40–16; the office number is Trinite 59–60. I hope to hear from you soon. Until then, with all good wishes,
Yours, Schütz
2. Schütz to Voegelin
4 Square Leroy-Beaulieu Paris. 16e.
October 15, 1938
Dear Professor:
Thank you very much for immediately answering my letter. I found your reports concerning our friends very interesting and was equally glad to get the good news of your first impressions in your new field of activity. You are the only person on the Continent who has given me a thought. From the others I have heard nothing and would be grateful if you would at least give me Mintz's and Winternitz's addresses. The latter, Fröhlich tells me, only writes east to west, never in the opposite direction.
I am sure you can imagine what torturous weeks we have had. Had war broken out, I would have had the choice of serving at the front or being put into a concentration camp in Algiers. Considering what was done to avoid this catastrophe, and the horrible results of those actions, I can hardly believe that a change of atmosphere can now occur in Europe that would make a life in peace and freedom possible. I have therefore taken out papers to emigrate to America. The normal waiting period is 20 to 24 months. I hope I will be able to spend them in Europe. I have learned that, in the case of an emergency here, I might be able to shorten the waiting period if, for example, I could demonstrate that from a scholarly point of view my presence in the United States was desired. Although I do not intend to pursue an academic career it would help me greatly if I could get a few letters from members of the academic community which, in a noncommittal way, said that they had heard of my plans to leave Europe and were convinced that they could immediately arrange a lecture tour or a series of lectures for me, just as soon as my plans became concrete and I could tell them my prospective date of arrival. I have asked Fröhlich to try to get such letters for me, which are to be used exclusively for the purpose of shortening the waiting period in case of an emergency. Let me repeat my request to you just in case Fröhlich forgets. It is by no means urgent, but I would like to begin to collect a folder of such letters; for the hour when I will have to leave Europe may came earlier than we all believe or desire.
Amidst all these worries, not the least of which is the fate of our parents for which, in view of the destruction of Czechoslovakia, we have taken all the necessary precautions, we have moved into our new apartment, but with the definite feeling that here we only have a place to stay and not a home. Please note the address on the letterhead and also give it to anyone who might want to have it. Naturally all these goings-on have kept my wife very busy; luckily I am also professionally very engaged, otherwise I don't know how I could cope with a time like this. At the moment doing any serious work is simply out of the question. We would very much like to hear how your wife—to whom Ilse and I send our best wishes—finds the New World, and whether she is enjoying her new life. Please give me the pleasure of having a new letter from you soon and let me hear about your work in detail. With very best wishes
Yours, Schütz
3. Voegelin to Schütz
13 Forest Street Cambridge, Mass.
October 25, 1938
Dear Doctor:
The critical days in Paris must have been very trying, and I certainly understand your reaction. Naturally I will be glad to do all I can to obtain the type of letter you want. First and foremost, I have Parsons in mind, who I don't know yet but who I hope to get to know within a fortnight. He is very interested in German theoretical thought, especially in Max Weber. Perhaps something can be done through him. There are also other possibilities here1 which, however, I will only be able to explore when I have introduced myself to more people.
Above all, let me give you the addresses of those faithless lads [treulose Knaben]:
[Emanuel] Winternitz, 27 W 76 Street, New York City
[Max] Mintz, 3204 Oxford Avenue, New York City
At the moment Winternitz is visiting [Fritz] Machlup in Buffalo. I expect to see both of them here in Cambridge in about a week.
During the first three weeks I rewrote the treatise on Genghis Kahn in English. It's finished, and I'm typing it now. An opportunity to publish it has also turned up. One of the faculty members, Cross of Slavic studies, is interested in it and may publish it in Speculum, the American journal for the history of the Middle Ages. That is a very prestigious journal and would be an excellent introduction for me into the American scholarly community.
Since completing this work I have been intensely exploring the new milieu. It is a very curious world, in which one must proceed cautiously in order not to give offense. A myriad of groups and circles exist which in part overlap and which in part are so neatly separated from one another that one can live here for a long time without discovering that some of them exist at all. The main thing I learned is that there is a taboo against asking questions. It is not polite to ask questions, and one doesn't get any answers. One acquires information only indirectly through incidental remarks in conversation and must put the bits and pieces together oneself. The most extensive circle, the one to which everyone belongs, is that of the university "officers," i.e., the academic staff in its entirety. This is subdivided into "departments." (I am a member of the department of "Government, History, and Economics.") Each department is a society in itself. For me this found expression in the fact that the dean's wife visited us and invited my wife to the department teas; in addition, she invited us to visit them at their home on one of the dean's open Sundays. As far as the exclusively male side is concerned, its center is the "Faculty Club." Each "officer" can be a member, and one only visits it for luncheon meetings. Within each department there is a small circle, the "faculty," which meets for faculty dinners. Assistants and instructors appointed for one year, like me, are not faculty members. Connections between departments take place in the "houses." A "house" is something like an English college: a massive block of buildings with student apartments, a smaller number of apartments for unmarried officers and studios for married officers. Residence in a house is not connected to membership in a specific faculty. Thus, in any one house a variety of members from all possible faculties may be found. The student members of a house are obliged to take part in its common meals; the officers may take part if they want to and are entitled to one hundred and seventy-five free meals a year. Traditions differ from house to house. In Lowell House, which I know better than any other, every Monday evening is High Table, to which the "master of the house" may invite outside guests, a formal occasion for which a dinner jacket is required. For the last three years the Lowell House High Table has ceremoniously used an Elizabethan salt shaker in imitation of the custom of English student societies. The organization into houses leads to the creation of groups since, naturally, the house residents meet frequently at their common meals. And apart from the common meals, the house is an entity for the students by virtue of the fact that teams representing the various houses engage in competitive sports. A further interesting organization is the "Society of Fellows." It was created by an earlier president of Harvard, Lowell, and operates under his chairmanship. It consists of a group of between twenty to thirty research fellows who are appointed for a period of three years and given very substantial grants. They are not university officers but have research contracts. Generally they are young unmarried men and women who live in the various houses and, as a rule, participate in the common meals. They meet in Eliot House every Monday evening in a special room for a formal dinner. This group of younger people is made up of Junior Fellows who are chosen and appointed by a committee of elder professors under Lowell's chairmanship—these are the Senior Fellows (among them, Alfred North Whitehead). I get the impression that the core of this group is made up of members of the old New England society associated with Harvard. At least I have noticed that one of the more important Junior Fellows, Haskins, is the son of a famous Harvard professor, now deceased, who was an intimate friend of the elder Lowell. A second member is a nephew of Henry Adams. The high point of the banquet takes place after the waiters have withdrawn and, as a last act, have placed a very beautiful silver four-wheeled wagon with two decanters of port on the table. The silver wagon is ceremoniously rolled the long way from table setting to table setting where each of the two individuals sitting across from one another takes one of the decanters and serves himself. In addition to such organized gatherings there are an untold number of groups that come together informally. In particular, it seems to me, a certain differentiation takes place owing to the fact that in an organization of this size there is always a large number of people whose scholarly qualifications are modest and whose intellect does not rise much above the mentality of a teacher. It seems that a natural affinity brings this type together and, likewise, that the more scholarly find one another. Relations between people are further differentiated by the fact that, as a result of the large number of short-term contracts, for some Harvard is only a station they are passing through, while for others, who stay longer, there is time to get to know each other more intimately. Finally, naturally all of these relationships and connections extend in all directions into circles that reach beyond the university. Some groups seem to be quite closed: for example, the medical and legal faculties. Others are quite open and mixed. For example, I noticed that there is a very strong interest here in Pareto. About two years ago it began when a biochemist named Henderson suddenly became interested in sociological theory and offered a seminar on Pareto, which was attended by many professors from various faculties.—I have sketched a few things here for you that I have been able to learn up to now; perhaps, with more visits, and as I continue to "dig," I will discover more things of which, as yet, I am completely unaware.
By far the most interesting phenomenon I have encountered is Brüning. Since coming here I have been able to spend one evening a week with him alone. What he knows about the administrative history of Germany, especially of Prussia, is simply amazing. Yesterday he discussed some of the materials he has collected on the history of the idea of tolerance in Prussia. It penetrated into Westphalia from the districts of Juelich-Cleve-Berg. (He offered a mountain of detail on how Protestants and Catholics lived together in these regions.) With sometimes moderate, sometimes greater success, Frederick the Great was able to establish the idea of tolerance in Prussia by filling all the important government posts in the East with privy councillors from the western provinces.
There appear to be some really interesting minds among the younger Americans. I have discovered one, Pettee, who has just completed a work on the psychology of revolution. He maintains that revolutions take place when the faith11 that previously held society together begins to weaken. Based on this thesis he told me that America was overripe for a collectivist revolution. Another young American, Watkins, appears to me to be a very cultivated connoisseur of art and music. He gave me some interesting insights into the failure of American architecture, arts and crafts, and related matters.
Now that your family is with you, I hope you will have a more tranquil time than you have had up to now. In the next couple of days my wife will write your wife to give her an account of what she has experienced. Please let me hear from you soon.
With the most cordial greetings,
Yours, Erich Voegelin
4. Schütz to Voegelin
March 3, 1939
Dear Friend:
I have wanted to write you for a long time, especially since Mme de Waal sent me a copy of Thomas Mann's letter to you and your response to it.
My present circumstances leave me no time for tranquil reflection, so I can only send you these few notes which I have spoken into the Dictaphone for my secretary to type.
As far as the letter from Thomas Mann is concerned, his position is as bad as his grammar. I can't believe that anywhere else in the world a nation's most prominent writer would be able to combine such ignorance of the language in which he expresses himself with such abysmal banalities. I have shown your introduction to a few friends and they are absolutely elated, not just by what you say but by how you say it. Nevertheless, I sincerely hope the text will not be published. It doesn't help anybody, and you will only do yourself a great deal of harm. For me personally it was invigorating to read these pages; but such things can only be said among friends. Once they are brought before the public, they lose their effect completely; indeed, they are turned against the author himself. Although I know you have never feared such things, I am nevertheless sure that in the event that you do decide to publish them, they will bring you only trouble and disappointment. That is what Thomas Mann should have said. Also, I don't know what readers you have in mind. If Americans, you will have all the women's clubs and the Babbitts against you; if Germans, I fear you will only give Herr Streicher more inflammatory material.
When I showed the pages to Gurwitsch, his eyes filled with tears and he said that you are the only worthy successor to Max Weber. Gurwitsch is one of the very few people I spend time with here.
I have got to know Siegfried Kracauer, who you will perhaps remember as the author of that excellent book on white-collar workers and the series "The Small Girls Go to the Movies" that appeared in the Frankfurter newspaper. He is also, what I didn't know before, the author of the anonymously published war novel, Ginster, which also first appeared in the Frankfurter newspaper. He has written and made available to me what I consider to be an excellent study, of about 200 typewritten pages, on the techniques of political propaganda. Since he lives under very strained circumstances, and because his work appears to me to be very original, I would like to do what I can to help him have the manuscript published in America. Can you please give me any advice on how I can go about that? May I send the MS to you, or an excerpt?
About me and my circumstances I will write you another time. It is all still as confusing as it was when I last wrote. Of course, as you will readily understand, it is the matter of my parents that weighs most heavily upon me; up to now no progress has been made.
The next time you have a free moment, please give me the pleasure of receiving a few lines from you. Come what may, I want to stay in touch.
With very best wishes from Ilse and me to you and Frau Lissy.
Yours, Schütz
5. Schütz to Voegelin
Paris
June 30, 1939
Dear Friend:
Not only do I want to thank you for your letter of May 1st, which I have irresponsibly neglected to answer, but I want to tell you something about our plans. My wife, who very much enjoyed her visit with your wife in New York, has returned after taking care of all the things that had to be done. She was also able to meet her mother when she arrived at London airport from Vienna, where she had endured almost interminable difficulties. She will now live in England with her son. Since, in any case, we have to have the children emigrate within four months, and in view of the unstable political situation, we have decided to take the trip together. Therefore with my wife and children I will embark on July 14th aboard the Nieuw Amsterdam for the United States. Conditions permitting, I would like to return to Europe on September 1st. But I will leave my wife and children in the United States until the situation in Europe clears up.
As much as I regret that we are so far apart, in Chicago I would have nothing else to do but to say hello to you. I am not that familiar with American geography, but it would make me very happy if you could arrange to travel from Chicago to Alabama by way of New York City. In any case, I will write you in more detail when I reach New York.
The news included in your letter, and all that I have heard from my wife, sounds very encouraging. I very much regret that I can't take part in your new work as directly as I was able to in the past; perhaps you can send some things to New York for me to read.
(Continues...)
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