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My Father, Bertrand Russell
Katharine Tait, daughter of Bertrand and Dora Russell, here vividly portrays the extraordinary and stimulating environment she grew up in. In refreshing contrast to the interpretation of Russell as philosopher and public figure, Tait's is a close personal account of her deep love and admiration for her father and its gradual tempering by the imperfections she came to see in him.Touchingly written and beautifully described, the book shows Russell to be a man of great warmth, charm and humour, but is also a testament to the traumas created when he applied his views on marriage and education to his own home.
My Father Bertrand Russell is essential reading for those seeking to understand the private background to Russell's ideas, the personal effects of his lifestyle prescriptions, and what it was like to live with a man of such genious.
My Father Bertrand Russell is essential reading for those seeking to understand the private background to Russell's ideas, the personal effects of his lifestyle prescriptions, and what it was like to live with a man of such genious.
- GenresPhilosophyBiography
213 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1975
100 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 23, 2013
A frank and highly readable account of the man's life by his daughter. A must for serious Russellophiles
August 9, 2020
If you thought that such a brilliant mind like Russell's could think and harbour no follies, this book could be a illusion-buster. The unhappy, discontented life of the author and her brother would indicate that Russell's ideas on education and child-rearing were at least not practicable if not fallacious. And, so, you could see that it is a good thing not to swallow whole any idea that you hear or read, however convincing it may sound to you (like how most of Russell's ideas [that I could grasp, I hasten to add] have sounded to me).
Read it also if you are a Russell fanboy and would like an insider's view of the life and mind of the great man.
We learn with amazement that Russell's daughter turned a god-believer (Bertrand Russell's daughter, a believer!), and we wonder what hope we could realistically have of an influential majority of the world learning to bring rationalism to bear on their thoughts (and deeds) if even such a brilliant, lucid and forceful thinker like Russell couldn't inspire his own daughter do it.
Read it also if you are a Russell fanboy and would like an insider's view of the life and mind of the great man.
We learn with amazement that Russell's daughter turned a god-believer (Bertrand Russell's daughter, a believer!), and we wonder what hope we could realistically have of an influential majority of the world learning to bring rationalism to bear on their thoughts (and deeds) if even such a brilliant, lucid and forceful thinker like Russell couldn't inspire his own daughter do it.
May 28, 2024
I loved this book and I appreciate the author for her honesty. The challenges and privileges of having a giant philosopher as a father. This book gives a good insight into seeing Bertrand Russell through his daughter’s eyes.
July 29, 2012
Unique perspectives on Bertrand Russell and his teachings by his daughter.
August 5, 2024
RUSSELL'S ONLY DAUGHTER WRITES ABOUT HER FATHER
Katherine ["Kate"] Tait (born 1923) is the daughter of Bertrand Russell and his second wife Dora Black. She became an essayist, and married a Christian minister. She said in the Preface to this 1975 book, "What was it like, having Bertrand Russell for a father? Was he stern, remote, analytical? Did he demand absolute quiet while he wrestled with philosophical conundrums and wrote his innumerable books? Was he too lofty to concern himself with the trivial affairs of his children? What was he really like? I have been asked such questions all my life and have struggled vainly to provide concise and honest answers." (Pg. xvii)
She suggests, "my father suffered from appalling nightmares, which caused him to fear for his own sanity and left him with a horror of madness that later made it extremely difficult for him to deal competently with the breakdown of his eldest son [John]." (Pg. 41) She observes, "When he ceased to love a woman, he ceased to love her totally, and usually he wanted no more to do with her." (Pg. 42; Russell was married four times, and had numerous affairs.)
She confides, "There were five barren years, from 1934 to 1939... They were the unhappiest years of my life, a time of settled misery so deep and pervasive that I was barely conscious of it. The parents whose help I needed seemed always to be wanting mine instead... I wished they could see us as ourselves, not as part of the battle with the other parent. Sometimes I felt we were never ourselves to them, but embodiments of a cause: first in their fight against convention, and then in the fight against each other." (Pg. 131-132)
She admits, "My father had taught us that economic inequality was unfair, yet he himself accepted it all his life and never entirely freed himself from the aristocratic habits of his upbringing. He never identified with servants and underlings (as I did) or felt their humiliation and deprivation as his own. He did what he could, from his superior position, to improve their lot, but he did not feel it wrong to live well while they could not... I wish that I had been able to discuss all this with my father... but by the time it became a problem to me, I had stopped talking with him about important things." (Pg. 140)
She argues, "I believe myself that his whole life was a search for God, or, for those who prefer less personal terms, for absolute certainty." (Pg. 184) She adds, "I would have liked to convince my father that I had found what he had been looking for, the ineffable something he had longed for all his life. I would have liked to persuade him that the search for God does not have to be vain. But it was hopeless. He had known too many blind Christians, bleak moralists who sucked the joy from life and persecuted their opponents; he would never have been able to see the truth they were hiding. He should have been a saint... Perhaps he was a saint, even without the faith. God's gadfly, sent to challenge the smugness of the churches with a righteousness greater than their own. I could not have persuaded him, could not even talk to him about religion. All I could do was trust him to God's care, knowing that God loved him more than I did and would do what was best for him." (Pg. 189) Of his death, she added, "he has arrived with God and is getting all his questions answered at last, and someday I shall be there too..." (Pg. 201)
Somewhat disappointing (owing to her lack of communication with her father), this book nevertheless gives some interesting insights into the "private" side of Russell's life.
Katherine ["Kate"] Tait (born 1923) is the daughter of Bertrand Russell and his second wife Dora Black. She became an essayist, and married a Christian minister. She said in the Preface to this 1975 book, "What was it like, having Bertrand Russell for a father? Was he stern, remote, analytical? Did he demand absolute quiet while he wrestled with philosophical conundrums and wrote his innumerable books? Was he too lofty to concern himself with the trivial affairs of his children? What was he really like? I have been asked such questions all my life and have struggled vainly to provide concise and honest answers." (Pg. xvii)
She suggests, "my father suffered from appalling nightmares, which caused him to fear for his own sanity and left him with a horror of madness that later made it extremely difficult for him to deal competently with the breakdown of his eldest son [John]." (Pg. 41) She observes, "When he ceased to love a woman, he ceased to love her totally, and usually he wanted no more to do with her." (Pg. 42; Russell was married four times, and had numerous affairs.)
She confides, "There were five barren years, from 1934 to 1939... They were the unhappiest years of my life, a time of settled misery so deep and pervasive that I was barely conscious of it. The parents whose help I needed seemed always to be wanting mine instead... I wished they could see us as ourselves, not as part of the battle with the other parent. Sometimes I felt we were never ourselves to them, but embodiments of a cause: first in their fight against convention, and then in the fight against each other." (Pg. 131-132)
She admits, "My father had taught us that economic inequality was unfair, yet he himself accepted it all his life and never entirely freed himself from the aristocratic habits of his upbringing. He never identified with servants and underlings (as I did) or felt their humiliation and deprivation as his own. He did what he could, from his superior position, to improve their lot, but he did not feel it wrong to live well while they could not... I wish that I had been able to discuss all this with my father... but by the time it became a problem to me, I had stopped talking with him about important things." (Pg. 140)
She argues, "I believe myself that his whole life was a search for God, or, for those who prefer less personal terms, for absolute certainty." (Pg. 184) She adds, "I would have liked to convince my father that I had found what he had been looking for, the ineffable something he had longed for all his life. I would have liked to persuade him that the search for God does not have to be vain. But it was hopeless. He had known too many blind Christians, bleak moralists who sucked the joy from life and persecuted their opponents; he would never have been able to see the truth they were hiding. He should have been a saint... Perhaps he was a saint, even without the faith. God's gadfly, sent to challenge the smugness of the churches with a righteousness greater than their own. I could not have persuaded him, could not even talk to him about religion. All I could do was trust him to God's care, knowing that God loved him more than I did and would do what was best for him." (Pg. 189) Of his death, she added, "he has arrived with God and is getting all his questions answered at last, and someday I shall be there too..." (Pg. 201)
Somewhat disappointing (owing to her lack of communication with her father), this book nevertheless gives some interesting insights into the "private" side of Russell's life.
July 5, 2025
The last lines in the book brought tears to my eyes. This book was upsetting with a rather low tone but truthful and brave.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews