Can the reputation of one of the 20th century's greatest liberal thinkers survive the publication of his letters? To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Isaiah Berlin, this week we're featuring a special online review of the second volume of his letters by writer and television producer David Herman, who teases out some of the many contradictions of Berlin's correspondence: the snobbery, flattery, double-dealings and lack of introspection; the curious lacunae in his cultural and political life, and his failure to make a stand on such issues as anti-Semitism; but also the wit and soaring flight of his intellectual improvisations, the determined originality of his passions, and his gift for compressing whole personalities into a few lines of description. Was Berlin a great philosopher; or merely a brilliant reader, conversationalist and composer of expertly barbed pen-portraits? Let us know your own thoughts below.
