INTERVIEWER
What was so captivating about The Captive Mind, apart from it being so beautifully written?
HERLING
Intellectuals, particularly foreign intellectuals, were happy finally
to have a book that explained things, and explained them in such a way
that didn’t criticize or indict or offend writers and intellectuals,
people of their own milieu.
INTERVIEWER
Strange that people whose business it is to think should be so eager to have someone else think for them.
HERLING
The behavior of the intellectuals before the war, during the war and
after the war with respect to fascism, communism, and other forms of
totalitarianism of various descriptions was not very respectable. So
they were happy to have Milosz’s book, to have their behavior absolved,
if not validated. Because to have something like Ketman or the
New Faith is certainly preferable to listening to me telling them that
they had betrayed themselves for career and family. Not that the Poles
were alone in this. The behavior of writers and intellectuals in Italy
during the Fascist reign was the same thing. They should be ashamed of
what they wrote, especially because they weren’t writing out of any
genuine conviction of fascism’s merits. They were merely trying to
advance their respective careers. To some extent it was the same with
German writers under the Nazis. Thomas Mann wasn’t sure about what
choice to make.(vê aqui se não conheces.)
