An accessible introduction to a key period in Western civilization.
Ten representative lives trace the amorphous outlines of the European Romantic movement.
As Kellogg acknowledges in his introduction, “Romanticism was a much messier business” than the more easily defined Enlightenment and Renaissance, subjects of the two previous books in his “Wisdom of” series. Nonetheless, a few unifying threads can be discerned in his brisk overviews of the lives and work of artists (and one philosopher), from Jean-Jacques Rousseau to Honoré de Balzac. All emphasized the importance of lived experience, whether relished with rapture in the poetry of William Wordsworth or examined with irony in the novels of Jane Austen. Even the lone philosopher, Hegel (explicated here with about as much lucidity as his knotty tomes can allow), grounded his search for Absolute Truth in empirical reality as well as abstract reasoning. The inclusion of Stendhal and Balzac, commonly viewed as realistic portraitists of young men on the make in a corrupt society, may surprise some readers, but Kellogg argues persuasively that both writers, like their antiheroes, are Romantics as much as realists. Goethe may have disowned the solipsism of his quintessentially Romantic novel The Sorrows of Young Werther in favor of a more classical style in Faust, but Kellogg demonstrates that the soul-selling doctor still has a characteristically Romantic goal: “to learn firsthand all that life has to offer.” The world-capturing aims of Alessandro Manzoni and Alexander Pushkin contrast with the intensely individual vision expressed in John Keats’ great odes, but all three relish words with a passion that is decidedly Romantic. Indeed, Kellogg reminds us, Manzoni and Pushkin basically invented their national languages in I promessi sposi and Eugene Onegin. Those who have read the books examined here may find Kellogg’s detailed exegeses rather basic, but readers unfamiliar with these seminal works of world literature will get a good sense of their significance.
An accessible introduction to a key period in Western civilization.Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9781493087112
Page Count: 376
Publisher: Prometheus Books
Review Posted Online: March 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2025
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
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