Autobiographical Reflections (CW34)

I have wanted to illustrate the variety of styles available to Voegelin, including the great force from which he is not debarred by a fundamental civilizedness and urbanity as admirable as they are rare in academic life. One clue to that life lies in the following passage: 'I have in my files documents labeling me a Communist, a Fascist, a National Socialist, an old Liberal, a new Liberal, a Jew, a Catholic, a Protestant, a Platonist, a neo-Augustinian, a Thomist, and of course a Hegelian - not to forget that I was supposedly strongly influenced by Huey Long. This list I consider of some importance, because the various characterizations of course always name the pet bete noire of the critic and give, therefore, a very good picture of the intellectual destruction and corruption that characterize the contemporary academic world.' Obviously a thinker damned in so many diverse ways is on to some uncomfortable truths. - Robert B. Heilman on Voegelin in the Sewanee Review; ""[Autobiographical Reflections] provides the best possible introduction to Voegelin's political philosophy as well as a splendid illustration of Voegelin's own interpretive procedure.... In short, [it] is accessible to anyone interested in discovering what the recovery of political science has meant. It also constitutes a significant contribution to that recovery."" - Review of Politics; ""The importance of this work resides in the fact that the student of Voegelin's thought is given the opportunity to learn firsthand of the origin and context within which Voegelin came upon his powerful insights, as well as to hear and assess for himself the musings of this great master as he reflects on the teachings of some of the intellectual giants of the twentieth century."" - Modern Age