The basic problem with my love relationships with women is that my standards are so high -- and they apply equally to both of us. I seek full-blast mutual intensity, fully fledged mutual acceptance, full-blown mutual flourishing, and fully felt peace and joy with each other. This requires a level of physical attraction, personal adoration, and moral admiration that is hard to find. And it shares a depth of trust and openness for a genuine soul-sharing with a mutual respect for a calling to each other and to others. Does such a woman exist for me? Only God knows and I eagerly await this divine unfolding. Like Heathcliff and Catherine’s relationship in Emily Bronte’s remarkable novel Wuthering Heights or Franz Schubert’s tempestuous piano Sonata No. 21 in B flat (D.960) I will not let life or death stand in the way of this sublime and funky love that I crave!
On a less personal, more public note, McLemee notes West's stated plans, a decade ago:
Ten years ago, in the final pages of a collection of his selected writings, Cornel West gave readers a look at the work he had in progress, or at least in mind, for the years ahead. One would be “a major treatment of African-American literature and modern Greek literature.” Another was “a meditation on Chekhov and Coltrane that delves into the distinctive conceptions of the tragic in American civilization and of the comic in Russian civilization.” He would be writing an intellectual autobiography “modeled on black musical forms.” Nor had he given up on plans to complete a study of David Hume. There would also be a book on Josiah Royce.
McLemee notes that not a single one of these has seen the light of day.
Yet, a comment points out a different, and meritorious, view of West's unfolding career.
cornel west learned long ago that no matter how many academic books that he published he would never be properly respected and embraced by white academics (a philosopy ph.d. this brilliant who has never been shown any interest to teach in a philosophy department?!?!?). the racism in the academy is so deeply entrenched that (how many total black people are in ivy league religious studies departments? philosophy departments?) if he were to keep doing "serious" academic work his contributions would never be taken as seriously as say, scott mclemee's; and, it would make him less accessible to his own community. so, knowing that the "emperor has no clothes" he gave the white academy the middle finger and is doing work to inspire black people. white folks should just leave him alone. the academy is an unfair and culturally biased place. it shows black people less respect even when they do work that is head and shoulders above the navel-gazing, non-creative work of white scholars. c'mon white academics! admit that your standards are so deeply biased and tainted that you would never accept cornel west if he out published harold bloom, marjorie garber and stanley fish. take stock of the true bone-heads in your department. then ask yourself why west does work that speaks to the black masses and not to white scholars. keep doin' your thing cornel!! your memoir is inspiring a lot of people and your speeches are saving lives! none of your white colleagues can speak to the issues you can. we need you. shake off these criticisms like teflon and do you!
I'm not sure if the first sentence is correct, however. As it seems to be the major premise of the argument, falsifying it might make the rest untenable. Yet, I don't believe it does. It may or may not be true that West understood that he would never receive the respect and intellectual accolades he deserves for his quite obvious brilliance. Yet, in order to prove one's brilliance, it might be thought necessary to do something brilliant! While the work on hip-hop culture is important, it seems to me that so is a work on African-American literature; while appearing in Matrix movies as a signal that the film's philosophical underpinnings are in accord with one's own might be a kind of intellectual noblesse oblige, but so would a monograph of Josiah Royce.
This past spring, I heard an interview with NPR host and author Tavis Smiley who is a mutual friend of West and Pres. Obama. Smiley said that Obama understood he must not just be a good President, but as the first African-American President, he had to outstrip most other Presidents. The author of the above comment may be correct that opting for a different route in the face of racial animus is the reason for the decisions West has made in regards his intellectual output. Yet, Smiley is doing nothing more than reiterating a long-standing notion that Americans of African descent have known for generations. The standards to which an African-American are held are indeed higher than those of non-blacks. Yet, meeting and even exceeding those standards has always been thought necessary as part of the burden. It is not fair, to be sure. That doesn't make it any less necessary.
Among the great African-American thinkers and writers, mentioning West in the same breath as Ralph Ellison is, I believe, interesting. Ellison published just one novel during his life - Invisible Man. Yet, he also wrote many incomparable essays, a collection of which adorns my library. His writings on writing and writers, on Charlie Christian and Charlie Parker, on his early life and later accolades, are brilliant, insightful, witty, and lacking in one quality that West wears on his sleeve - his own perception of himself as a national treasure. There is enough truth in McLemee's portrait of West as one enamored of his own brilliance and insight to make any reader steer clear of an entire book dedicated to West on West.
