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A review by felixsanchez
On the Pleasure of Hating by William Hazlitt
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.