There's an account of craving the bad in those thinkers. For Milos, I don't think he did crave the bad ever. He portrays other people as craving the bad. In captive mind is people trying to get along and live within the system. They pathologically divide themselves into two people so that they can avoid martyrdom.
As a little girl, Cynthia Haven loved reading classic works of literature. At sixteen, she began her career as a reporter. And years later, those two interests converged as they led her to interview and write books about three writers and thinkers whom she also came to call mentors: René Girard, Czeslaw Milosz, and Joseph Brodsky.
Cynthia joined Tyler to discuss what she’s gleaned from each of the three, including what traits they have in common, why her biography of Girard had to come from outside academia, Milosz’s reaction to the Berkley Free Speech Movement, Girard’s greatest talent—and flaw—as a thinker, whether Brodsky will fall down the memory hole, why he was so terrible on Ukraine, why Cynthia’s early career was much like The Devil Wears Prada, the failings of Twitter, and more.
Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links.
Recorded May 18th, 2022 Other ways to connect