FOREWORD 



We have much to learn from Taine, especially by wrestling 

 with him. His logic, his lucidity — two rare forms of intellectual 

 courage — his erudition, are a constant challenge. Taine cannot 

 be shrugged away. I once compared him with an instrument at 

 the same time robust and sensitive, but 'untrue': un grand esprit 

 faux. I do not recant. But a sensitive instrument, once you have 

 measured its aberration, can be used to good scientific purpose; 

 it is a coarse instrument, even if roughly accurate, that is of little 

 avail for searching and delicate work. 



Back of Taine's assertiveness, we can descry a depth of anguish 

 and despair. Like Baudelaire and Flaubert, he belonged to a 

 generation of wounded romanticists. Science — for he thought of 

 himself as a scientist — was his refuge; his tower, not of ivory, but 

 of grey steel. The fastness turned into a jail: he tried to be a 

 Euclid, a Spinoza, a Darwin, and he was first of all a soul in 

 prison. Without any compromise with romance or melodrama, 

 Dr. Kahn gives us glimpses of the haggard face behind the bars. 



This is a study that Taine himself would have enjoyed, for it 

 is respectful and sympathetic as well as rigorous and fearless. A 

 Tainean of nearly sixty years' standing is proud to be its sponsor. 



Albert Guerard 



Brandeis University 



