It's a race against time, but, as this century totters to its close, we might, in the final few years, catch up with the arithmetic and discover that it's the 20th century we've been inhabiting, and not, after all, a dreamlike prolongation of the 19th. We'll feel bereft, of course, as we pack away the old Middle-European 19th-century philosophies - we've played with them for so long there appears to be no alternative. Actually, we've got nothing to lose but certain habits of mind, and not much to fear since forming habits of mind is a special talent of our species. And there might be enough of a hiatus to feel sweet relief as the weight of Marx and Freud lifts off us, and the burden of history, public and personal, becomes a thing of the past.

LRB 24 June 1993 | PDF Download