'Autobiography' by John Stuart Mill

Mill’s 'Autobiography' was considered too shocking to publish while he was alive. Behind his musings on many of the philosophical and political preoccupations of his time lie the confessions of a deeply repressed man who knows that he’s deeply repressed, coming to terms with the uncompromising educational experiment his father subjected him to as a child – described by Isaiah Berlin as ‘an appalling success’. In this episode Jonathan and James discuss Mill’s startlingly honest account of this experience and the breakdown that ensued in his 20s, and the boldness of his life and thought from his views on socialism and the rights of women to his unwavering devotion to his wife, Harriet Taylor, the co-author of 'On Liberty' and other works.

Non-subscribers will only hear an extract from this episode. To listen to the full episode, and all our other Close Readings series, subscribe:

Directly in Apple Podcasts: ⁠https://lrb.me/applecrcip⁠

In other podcast apps: ⁠https://lrb.me/closereadingscip⁠

Further reading in the LRB:

Sissela Bok on Mill's 'Autobiography':

⁠https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v06/n06/sissela-bok/his-father-s-children⁠

Alasdair MacIntyre: Mill's Forgotten Victory

⁠https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v02/n20/alasdair-macintyre/john-stuart-mill-s-forgotten-victory⁠

Panbkaj Mishra: Bland Fanatics

⁠https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v37/n23/pankaj-mishra/bland-fanatics⁠

Next Episode

F.H. Bradley's 'My Station and Its Duties' can be found online here:

⁠https://archive.org/details/ethicalstudies0000brad/page/160/mode/2up⁠

LRB AUDIOBOOKS

Discover audiobooks from the LRB, including Jonathan Rée's Becoming a Philosopher: Spinoza to Sartre:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://lrb.me/audiobookscip⁠⁠