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4.22 AVERAGE
4.22 AVERAGE
Delightful to read - I don't think I've read anything remotely like it. I sped through the capital-P Philosophy, so I don't know how much of that I'll take away, but that's fine.
adventurous
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Blazingly brilliant & fabulous fun.
Worthy of every superlative.
Heidegger without headache.
Looking forward already to reread.
Lives up the hype.
Worthy of every superlative.
Heidegger without headache.
Looking forward already to reread.
Lives up the hype.
They were only human, after all…
The positive reviews for this book are right: Sarah Bakewell indeed succeeds in giving a face to the hybrid group of existentialists, making their philosophies comprehensible and valuing them from her personal point of view. Luckily she already has quite some life experience, and that makes her judgment very nuanced and therefore often surprising. For example: before I read this book Sartre to me seemed but a wind-cock spinning around with whatever revolutionary wind would come, and I was much more attracted by the ethical humanism of Camus. As far as the latter is concerned, I still am, but Bakewell corrected the negative image of Sartre, presenting him a bit as a sympathetic anarchist. I could also appreciate her upgrading of Simone De Beauvoir: Bakewell emphasizes the enormous impact of her book 'The Second Sex”, and rightly so. Heidegger as a person does not get a good press, and that is no surprise, but – as Bakewell states – it does not make sense to ignore this 'most brilliant and most hated philosopher of the 20th century'. Only the recurring positive comments on Merleau-Ponty ('the dancing philosopher') remain a mystery to me: her argument that he was the real revolutionary of the bunch, did not really convince me.
Finally, the reader will especially notice how detailed Bakewell deals with the many discussions, quarrels and even outright feuds between the existentialists; from a distance it looks like they were not doing anything else. Maybe Bakewell focuses a bit too much on these differences and perhaps she is sometimes too biographical in her approach, but never mind, I learned that even my existentialist 'heroes' turn out to be people of flesh and blood.
PS. Bakewell does a good job in presenting the existentialist message and in showing it had a tremendous impact on our culture. But she does not really explain why after the 1960's existentialism seemingly was swept of the planet by anti-humanist waves of structuralism and postmodernism. Perhaps these waves in retrospect were just rimplings on the surface and did the deep current of existentialism have a more lasting impact? Or is this just wishful thinking?
The positive reviews for this book are right: Sarah Bakewell indeed succeeds in giving a face to the hybrid group of existentialists, making their philosophies comprehensible and valuing them from her personal point of view. Luckily she already has quite some life experience, and that makes her judgment very nuanced and therefore often surprising. For example: before I read this book Sartre to me seemed but a wind-cock spinning around with whatever revolutionary wind would come, and I was much more attracted by the ethical humanism of Camus. As far as the latter is concerned, I still am, but Bakewell corrected the negative image of Sartre, presenting him a bit as a sympathetic anarchist. I could also appreciate her upgrading of Simone De Beauvoir: Bakewell emphasizes the enormous impact of her book 'The Second Sex”, and rightly so. Heidegger as a person does not get a good press, and that is no surprise, but – as Bakewell states – it does not make sense to ignore this 'most brilliant and most hated philosopher of the 20th century'. Only the recurring positive comments on Merleau-Ponty ('the dancing philosopher') remain a mystery to me: her argument that he was the real revolutionary of the bunch, did not really convince me.
Finally, the reader will especially notice how detailed Bakewell deals with the many discussions, quarrels and even outright feuds between the existentialists; from a distance it looks like they were not doing anything else. Maybe Bakewell focuses a bit too much on these differences and perhaps she is sometimes too biographical in her approach, but never mind, I learned that even my existentialist 'heroes' turn out to be people of flesh and blood.
PS. Bakewell does a good job in presenting the existentialist message and in showing it had a tremendous impact on our culture. But she does not really explain why after the 1960's existentialism seemingly was swept of the planet by anti-humanist waves of structuralism and postmodernism. Perhaps these waves in retrospect were just rimplings on the surface and did the deep current of existentialism have a more lasting impact? Or is this just wishful thinking?
informative
reflective
fast-paced
A wonderful historical/biographical walk through existentialist thought that touches on the ideas and the people who formed them
O livro promete ser um retrato das figuras que compuseram a cena do existencialismo na Europa do século XX, e é isso mesmo que ele é. A autora faz um panorama das vidas das principais personagens da história do existencialismo, dedicando um capítulo a cada uma delas, contando um pouco de suas vidas pessoais, seus relacionamentos umas com as outras, as origens de suas filosofias e o impacto destas na sociedade da época, bem como sua influência nas artes e no pensamento contemporâneo.
É um livro gostoso e fácil de ler. Eu tive a sensação de estar vendo um documentário artístico em vários pontos da leitura, e a maneira como a autora descreve suas próprias sensações ao relatar sua experiência de conhecer e esturdar os filósofos dessa história chega mesmo a dar vontade de ir conhecer e estudá-los por conta própria. Para mim, mais que um retrato, esse livro foi um convite para adentrar e conhecer o tal do Café Existencialista. E foi um belíssimo de um convite!
É um livro gostoso e fácil de ler. Eu tive a sensação de estar vendo um documentário artístico em vários pontos da leitura, e a maneira como a autora descreve suas próprias sensações ao relatar sua experiência de conhecer e esturdar os filósofos dessa história chega mesmo a dar vontade de ir conhecer e estudá-los por conta própria. Para mim, mais que um retrato, esse livro foi um convite para adentrar e conhecer o tal do Café Existencialista. E foi um belíssimo de um convite!
What a comprehensive and fascinating description of the existentialist philosophy. Sarah Bakewell managed to perfectly systematise the the key thinkers of the time, summarise their ideas, described context and of course people themselves. Even through the language is quite sophisticated, I must admit that I expected a bit more wit, especially when you write about such characters as Sartre, de Beauvoir or Heidegger. It might be due to the attempt to dissociate herself with the philosophers and be ‘objective’, but I doubt that since the author express her personal experience and thoughts fairly often. Yet, it seems like a personal preference for the tone of voice. Hence, I cannot give less than five stars to such an enlightening book about such a challenging topic.
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
challenging
informative
slow-paced