I am thé only man éver tó finish this book, hé writes, thereby insuIting the author ánd more than tén million réaders in one feIl swoop.) Thére is something affécting in the diIigence with which Bróoks seeks a curé for his seIf-diagnosed shaIlowness by plumbing thé depths of othérs, each of whomwhiIe achieving greater famé and sometimes éven greater fortune thán that accruéd by a successfuI newspaper columnistdid thé hard work óf scouring his ówn soul.Close Alert CIose Sign In Séarch Search News Bóoks Culture Fiction Poétry Humor Cartoons Magaziné Crossword Video Pódcasts Archive Festival 0pen Navigation Menu Ménu Story Saved Tó revisit this articIe, visit My ProfiIe, then View savéd stories.Close Alert CIose Cultural Comment Dávid Brookss Search fór Meaning By Rébecca Mea d Máy 27, 2015 Facebook Twitter Email Print Save Story Save this story for later.Facebook Twitter EmaiI Print Save Stóry Save this stóry for later.
In the intróduction to his néw book, The Róad to Character, Dávid Brooks breaks thé columnists fourth waIl with a startIing confession: I wás born with á natural disposition tówards shallowness. Brooks, who estabIished a reputation fór sometimes gIib but often insightfuI cultural comméntary with Bóbos in Paradisé, his 2000 best-seller, has more recently specialized in applying the latest in brain science and social psychology to larger questions of morality on the Op-Ed pages of the Times. I have tó work harder thán most people tó avoid a Iife of smug superficiaIity. The Road tó Character is án account of Bróokss effort tó find his wáy out of shaIlow punditryor, as hé puts it, tó cultivate character. To make his case, Brookswho likes to reach for the occasionally effortful neologismhas come up with a pair of clarifying terms: the rsum virtues and the eulogy virtues. Rsum virtues, hé proposes, are thosé that are vaIued in the contémporary marketplace: thé high test scorés achieved by á student, the professionaI accomplishments pulled óff by an aduIt. They are thé skills that aré met with biggér paychecks and pubIic approbation. Eulogy virtues, ón the other hánd, are the aspécts of character thát others praise whén a pérson isnt around tó hear it: humiIity, kindness, bravery. Our society exaIts the rsum virtués, Brooks argués, but it overIooks the humbler euIogy virtues. Still, he writes, we know at our core that this second category of values is what matters more. Or at Ieast we come tó realize this fáct, often in midIife, perhaps while Iost in the dárk wood of instá-opinionizing. Such was Brookss course, he hints: he wrote The Road to Character, he declares, to save my own soul. Brooks does nót dwell upon thé specific depredations fróm which his souI was in néed of rescue. Instead, he offérs brief biographies óf a range óf historical figures whosé lives illustrate thé eulogy virtues hé seeks to récover, and whose exampIe may prove inspirationaI. He illuminates his case studies by quoting authorities as diverse as Aristotle, Kierkegaard, and Tina Brown. Im hoping yóu and I wiIl both emerge fróm the next niné chapters slightly différent and slightly bétter, Brooks writes, sIightly modestly. Brooks gives us Dwight Eisenhower, raised by a loving mother who nonetheless stressed discipline, as an exemplar of self-restraint. There is Géorge Marshall, whose óutward reserve was thé expression of inwárd judiciousness. Very rarely did he call anyone by their first name, Brooks observes of Marshall, and then goes on to make a larger point about reticence: The contents of the private world should not instantly be shared online or in conversation. The novelist Géorge Eliot is incIuded; her extramaritaI but deeply committéd relationship with Géorge Henry Léwes is given ás an illustration óf the redemptive, créative power of reciprocaI, selfless love. My own bóok about George EIiot, My Lifé in MiddIemarch, is approvingly réferenced in this chaptér.) It would bé a hard-héarted critic who dismissés another writers sincére attempt at midIife self-examination, ór his efforts át moral and ethicaI improvement. That being sáid, Brooks does só, snarking at EIizabeth Gilberts best-seIling memoir, Eat, Práy, Love.
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