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wrengaia's review
3.0
hazlitt tends to labour a point for far longer than is necessary, which undermines the fact that he does make some good point. His style of writing is also frustrating; you don’t need to quote something canonical every other line, it’s just jarring. overall interesting enough that i finished it, but a bit too nineteenth century for my taste.
fulmenis's review against another edition
3.0
The book, for anyone unaware, is actually a collection of essays. They possesses a extremely rambling, but generally entertaining style, but the philosophical points tend to be a bit shallow- though there are occasional exceptions to this. The book is best in chapters like "the Boxing Match." and "The Indian Jugglers" where it's rambling narrative quality helps emerse the reader in a sense of Hazlitt simply talking about his experiences.....
Easily the weakest chapter is, "On Monarchy" which showed such pathetic reasoning ability in its discourse on ethics and gov that it lost a star all on its own.
The strongest chapter philosophically is the one for which the book is named, and has some points of merit, as do a few others....
Easily the weakest chapter is, "On Monarchy" which showed such pathetic reasoning ability in its discourse on ethics and gov that it lost a star all on its own.
The strongest chapter philosophically is the one for which the book is named, and has some points of merit, as do a few others....
elisharcarter's review
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
3.75
The actual essay ‘On the Pleasure of Hating’ was incredibly thought-provoking and has inspired me to read much more of Hazlitt’s essays discussing morality and human conscience. Some of the essays before it within this edition I didn’t find as intriguing, but there were points of interest. This was okay though because I mainly bought the text for that one essay!
felixsanchez's review
3.0
Some thoughts were interesting, but overall was too flowery and not on topic enough for me to really get into. As a result, I think this would be much easier to read and like if you were reading it for university - having the opportunity to air this out would probably help the digestion of it too. There were moments it definitely felt like 'entitled-white-guy-who-has-had-too-much-of-an-ego-boost' just writing anything, and knowing that it would be lapped up and adored (that isn't to say he knew that some people's monocles would slide of their noses in disgust. I'm sure he expected that too).
I definitely think these essays would've read better in their respective publications, rather than in a bind-up.
And, perhaps more pressingly, the title is somewhat misleading. There were themes of hatred, but it was largely an aside, a consequence of the subject matter, rather than the subject matter itself. That was somewhat disappointing, and why it took me so long to finish this. So, if you're looking for some (easily digestible) philosophy about hatred and humanity, this isn't it.
I definitely think these essays would've read better in their respective publications, rather than in a bind-up.
And, perhaps more pressingly, the title is somewhat misleading. There were themes of hatred, but it was largely an aside, a consequence of the subject matter, rather than the subject matter itself. That was somewhat disappointing, and why it took me so long to finish this. So, if you're looking for some (easily digestible) philosophy about hatred and humanity, this isn't it.
sookie13's review
5.0
"...pleasure asks a greater effort of the mind to support it than pain; and we turn, after a little idle dalliance, from what we love to what we hate!"
"Hatred alone is immortal."
This essay, 'On the Pleasure of Hating', should be required reading, simply for (hopefully) the introspection it should cause. Especially in today's day and age (although Hazlitt himself would argue that these conflicted attitudes are upon us no matter what day and age we find ourselves in).
The others are equally worth the read, and I'm rather disappointed in myself that I did not read Hazlitt earlier. I did find myself surprised at how often I had mused over the same thoughts he did in his writings. Really a thought-provoking read. I'll definitely peruse his other works.
"Hatred alone is immortal."
This essay, 'On the Pleasure of Hating', should be required reading, simply for (hopefully) the introspection it should cause. Especially in today's day and age (although Hazlitt himself would argue that these conflicted attitudes are upon us no matter what day and age we find ourselves in).
The others are equally worth the read, and I'm rather disappointed in myself that I did not read Hazlitt earlier. I did find myself surprised at how often I had mused over the same thoughts he did in his writings. Really a thought-provoking read. I'll definitely peruse his other works.
scottishclaire's review against another edition
4.0
There are various perspectives in these essays that must have ruffled a few feathers around the 1820s. I didn't find all the essays engrossing, but the ones I did threw up some wonderful nuggets that are as relevant today as 200 years ago.
My favourite essays were The Fight, The Indian Jugglers and On The Pleasure of Hating. The last essay had me laughing - Hazlett was humourous and cutting on a range of subjects, and I particularly enjoyed his take on gossiping and his attitiude to old friendships.
Some of his writing is circuitous and harder to access, but overall I found this collection of essays an opportunity to time travel back to the 1800s and learn a bit more about radical thoughts and perspectives of the day.
My favourite essays were The Fight, The Indian Jugglers and On The Pleasure of Hating. The last essay had me laughing - Hazlett was humourous and cutting on a range of subjects, and I particularly enjoyed his take on gossiping and his attitiude to old friendships.
Some of his writing is circuitous and harder to access, but overall I found this collection of essays an opportunity to time travel back to the 1800s and learn a bit more about radical thoughts and perspectives of the day.
npryan's review
5.0
Beautifully delicious - more than worthy of demanding a sixth star option!
Published 1821, OtPoH is a series of essays on the subject of humanity presented as a 'first person musing/reflection' - though that perhaps doesn't represent how cuttingly hilarious they frequently are.
As a critique of humanity, Hazlitt is absolutely spot-on; he doesn't do badly when it comes to the individual either - often, I found myself in perfect agreement with a statement, only for the next sentence to turn the whole sentiment on its head and likewise with it my sensibilities.
It took me far longer to read than it should; but only due to going back over pages or entire sections, such was the thrilling orgy of thoughts.
I came across it as part of a Penguin Books' 'Great Ideas' series. While it is clearly recognised as a great work, it nonetheless strikes me as a severely undervalued gem to not be more commonly mentioned or referenced.
On completion, I discovered it forms part of a greater work called 'Table Talk' - perhaps there is good reason Penguin chose to separate On... from it; for me, though, further interest is nothing but piqued!
Published 1821, OtPoH is a series of essays on the subject of humanity presented as a 'first person musing/reflection' - though that perhaps doesn't represent how cuttingly hilarious they frequently are.
As a critique of humanity, Hazlitt is absolutely spot-on; he doesn't do badly when it comes to the individual either - often, I found myself in perfect agreement with a statement, only for the next sentence to turn the whole sentiment on its head and likewise with it my sensibilities.
It took me far longer to read than it should; but only due to going back over pages or entire sections, such was the thrilling orgy of thoughts.
I came across it as part of a Penguin Books' 'Great Ideas' series. While it is clearly recognised as a great work, it nonetheless strikes me as a severely undervalued gem to not be more commonly mentioned or referenced.
On completion, I discovered it forms part of a greater work called 'Table Talk' - perhaps there is good reason Penguin chose to separate On... from it; for me, though, further interest is nothing but piqued!
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