Life of Hart: Nightmares and Dreams

Author: Nicolaus Ley
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-08-01
Features: By 1921, Herbert's distress in Cheltenham had become so severe that he tried to escape. This was indeed an extreme measure for a child with a strong sense of responsibility. However, the downturn in his parents' business unexpectedly resolved his predicament. At the end of the First World War, economic conditions had worsened significantly, and the number of holiday travelers had sharply declined. Moreover, the demand for luxury goods like furs had greatly decreased. Sim Hart wrote to Herbert with regret, telling him he had to leave "this excellent school." But for Herbert, it was truly "news from heaven." He was sent to Bradford Grammar School, just like his brother, and stayed there until 1926, completing his entire secondary education. However, even those brief and unpleasant days at Cheltenham left a deep impression on his teachers. Upon receiving a scholarship and graduating from Oxford, he received several enthusiastic letters of congratulations from his former school, one of which asked whether he could attribute his success at Oxford to the "honor of being an old Cheltenham alumnus." Herbert unhesitatingly wrote a "no" in the margin of the letter. Herbert finally transferred to Bradford School, which provided an environment where he could realize his academic potential. Moreover, there, he found a sense of belonging and a feeling of being respected as an individual. Bradford School was a boys' school with a high standard of education and students from diverse social backgrounds. Since he had not yet recovered from his unpleasant experience at Cheltenham, Herbert was initially not very confident and struggled to adapt to the abrupt change in campus culture. Fortunately, fate was kind, and in the first few weeks, young Leslie Styler (later a colleague of Herbert's at Oxford) was assigned by the school to look after Herbert. He quickly settled in. When he reflected on his time at Bradford, he considered it one of the happiest periods of his life, and it was precisely during this time that his future career was ultimately decided. The atmosphere at Bradford was more open, and the discipline was less strict, making it feel like a beautiful countryside walk. Gradually, Herbert fell deeply in love with the place, and he further developed his keen sense of aesthetics. Several teachers at the school were particularly outstanding, and their classes excited Herbert with the thrill of continuous intellectual exchange. Goddard, the teacher in charge of classical literature, was interested in the ideas of the Austrian philosopher Otto Spengler. Spengler, in his book The Decline of the West, proposed a thesis that the development of civilization follows a cycle of prosperity and decline. Goddard introduced Herbert to an important and intellectually enriching philosophical field, satisfying his love for numerous hypotheses and universal principles, while also, through more conventional teaching methods, sparking Herbert's interest in the precise nuances of language.