Between Friends: The Correspondence of Hannah Arendt and Mary McCarthy 1949-1975

Rating:
Summary: words in time...
Review: two women of exceptional talent, both good travellers, original, deeply learned... these volume is a compilation of their correspondence along 25 years of friendship. it is quite frankly a pleasure to read. both women are around forty years of age when their exchange starts. being an intellectual is hard enough, there are just so many things that may get in your way. it is not a surprise that one would have to wait till forty to achieve some independence and a sense of fulfilment. these women were actually aware of the positive value of age and of the importance of taking private time to study too. mary maccarthy does say to arendt in one of the letters that "george eliot started writing at age 37...", and you do see that they needed to spend a lot of time on their own, studying. sometimes they say: "you can come and visit me and i can give you such and such a room and we will be able to work and not bother one another". writers are a bit like that... there is this imperious need to have lots of hours to yourself, to read and write and concentrate.