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Loading... Boswell's Enlightenmentby Robert Zaretsky
   None No current Talk conversations about this book.  stillatim | Oct 23, 2020 |  no reviews | add a review
"In 1763, the young James Boswell left Great Britain for a 'Grand Tour' of the Continent. The tour was a tradition among British and Scottish youths; by visiting the great historical sites, especially those of Roman and Greek antiquity, they would complete the studies they had begun at universities back home. Boswell's tour, however, was different: he was less concerned with the ruins of the past than the thinkers of the present. In particular, he was eager to question the leading figures of the Enlightenment on matters of faith and God--of particular importance to Boswell, who had been raised in the dour and dire atmosphere of the Church of Scotland. In his remarkable conversations with figures like Voltaire, Rousseau, and Hume, we see a man struggling with the claims of reason and needs of faith--a struggle that remains very much our own 250 years later"--Provided by publisher. No library descriptions found. |
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 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)828.609Literature English & Old English literatures English miscellaneous writings English miscellaneous writings 1745-1799LC ClassificationRatingAverage: (3.75)
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Wikipedia in English
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I'm not sure what's going on, but I can't remember reading a book published by Harvard that wasn't, apparently, edited by machines or perhaps ill-trained monkeys. Aside from general typos (really? you can spend thousands giving a book fancy end-papers, but can't pay a graduate student somewhere fifty bucks to get rid of typos?), we also have:
* the same anecdote about Hume repeated, I think, three times;
* Adam Smith called 'Author of the Theory of Moral Sentiments' multiple times within two pages;
* a joke about Mrs. Cowper before Mrs. Cowper has even entered the narrative;
* the story about Boswell getting into bed with Erskine repeated at least three times;
* Esse est percipi spelled Essi est percipi
That's a sample of cock-ups, not an exhaustive list. And this in a 'Balknap' book, supposedly the high-end of the press. Harvard, I edit books. Hire me. (