Chronology Entry
Year
1920.12.17
Text
Letter from Bertrand Russell to Ottoline Morrell. 2 Sui an Po Hutung, 17 Dec. 1920.
Dearest O. … We have settled down to a regular life here, very hard working, and most of the work very futile. A great deal of lecturing (by both of us) to students who are eager and enthusiastic, but ignorant and untrained and lazy, expecting knowledge to be pumped into them without effort on their part. A good deal of writing articles in Chinese and Japanese papers. Less social life than at first, but still too much. The Europeans here are mostly old-fashioned and boring, polite to us because they are afraid of what I may say to the Chinese (the Bolsheviks are in touch with them, not very far from Peking), but of course really hating us and furious at having to condone our flouting of conventions and decencies. It makes an odd situation. The Chinese are infinitely polite and flattering, but one always feels they have secrets, and that they say things to each other of which we get no hint. However, on the whole we live a quiet life. Our house is near the walls, which are immensely broad and go all round the City (14 miles) and are said to have been built under the Ming dynasty. We walk on the walls in the afternoons, and get a wonderful view of the whole town and the Western hills.
The news from home in the papers is the worst part of the day… Last night for the first time we had visitors to dinner in our house. One of them a man named Johnston, who writes on Buddhism with praise and on Christianity with censure. He finds that the missionaries still preach that every heathen 'Chinee' must go to hell, and he writes amusing blasphemies on the subject – he is a belated Voltairian. In the middle of dinner, while we were listening to these blasphemies, there was an earthquake ! So we changed the subject. I never was in an earthquake before – it was slight, and at first we each thought we were taken suddenly ill – it felt like sea-sickness. Then we saw the lights swaying about and we realized what had happened… All love. Your B.
Dearest O. … We have settled down to a regular life here, very hard working, and most of the work very futile. A great deal of lecturing (by both of us) to students who are eager and enthusiastic, but ignorant and untrained and lazy, expecting knowledge to be pumped into them without effort on their part. A good deal of writing articles in Chinese and Japanese papers. Less social life than at first, but still too much. The Europeans here are mostly old-fashioned and boring, polite to us because they are afraid of what I may say to the Chinese (the Bolsheviks are in touch with them, not very far from Peking), but of course really hating us and furious at having to condone our flouting of conventions and decencies. It makes an odd situation. The Chinese are infinitely polite and flattering, but one always feels they have secrets, and that they say things to each other of which we get no hint. However, on the whole we live a quiet life. Our house is near the walls, which are immensely broad and go all round the City (14 miles) and are said to have been built under the Ming dynasty. We walk on the walls in the afternoons, and get a wonderful view of the whole town and the Western hills.
The news from home in the papers is the worst part of the day… Last night for the first time we had visitors to dinner in our house. One of them a man named Johnston, who writes on Buddhism with praise and on Christianity with censure. He finds that the missionaries still preach that every heathen 'Chinee' must go to hell, and he writes amusing blasphemies on the subject – he is a belated Voltairian. In the middle of dinner, while we were listening to these blasphemies, there was an earthquake ! So we changed the subject. I never was in an earthquake before – it was slight, and at first we each thought we were taken suddenly ill – it felt like sea-sickness. Then we saw the lights swaying about and we realized what had happened… All love. Your B.
Mentioned People (2)
Morrell, Ottoline
(Tunbridge Wells, Kent 1873-1938 London) : Artistokratin, Freundin von Bertrand Russell
Russell, Bertrand
(Trelleck, Monmouthsire 1872-1970 Plas Penrhyn bei Penrhyndeudraeth, Wales) : Philosoph, Logistiker, Mathematiker, Literaturnobelpreisträger ; Dozent Cambridge, Oxford, London, Harvard University, Chicago, Los Angeles, Beijing
Subjects
Philosophy : Europe : Great Britain
Documents (1)
| # | Year | Bibliographical Data | Type / Abbreviation | Linked Data |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1884-1970 |
Russell, Bertrand. The selected letters of Bertrand Russell. Ed. by Nicholas Griffin. Vol. 1-2. (London : Allen Lane, 1992-2001). Vol. 1 : The private years, 1884-1914. Vol. 2 : The public years, 1914-1970. |
Publication / Russ36 |
|