SOURCE: "Disciples and Dissenters," in the South Atlantic Quarterly, Vol. XLIX, No. 2, April, 1950, pp. 159-74.

In the following excerpt, Meisel examines how Sorel' s contemporaries reacted positively and negatively to his theories.

There are the honorable titans of the spirit, the good masters who hold our admiration, whose every word we endorse and file away for reference because it is the truth. But, as the years go by, we find that something has been happening to us. Our esteem of the masters has not changed; we would not dream of casting doubt upon their findings; only, we no longer care. Our integral assent has come embarrassingly close to boredom, whereas lesser figures who are neither sound nor honorable and in no way titans prove to be a lasting source of inspiration. They irritate us, they infuriate us, but they keep us interested. Their premises are unconvincing, their logical...