ABSTRACT
In 1950, Lionel Trilling published The Liberal Imagination, a collection of essays that established him as the most subtle and influential mind in contemporary American culture. Trilling's first mature critical undertaking had been his book entitled Matthew Arnold, which he called a biography of Arnold's mind. Trilling also had a target: those American liberals who had been living contentedly as supporters of Stalinist totalitarianism. Posthumously published excerpts from Trilling's notebooks show that he contrasted himself unfavorably with Hemingway and used the word "writer" as if it were synonymous with "novelist". Trilling says that Jorris Buxton was modeled on the English Romantic poet Walter Savage Landor, whose numerous eccentricities included a reckless fondness for women much younger than himself. Whatever obstacles impede Vincent Hammell's career, being Jewish is not one of them; yet, as everyone knows, Trilling's career at Columbia nearly fell victim to the then deeply entrenched opposition to hiring Jews in English departments.
