Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives and destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you t[...]
William Hazlitt (1778-1830) developed a variety of identities as a writer: essayist, philosopher, critic of literature, drama, and painting, biographer, political commentator, and polemicist. What unites this variety is his dramatic and passionate intelligence, his unswerving commitment to individua[...]
Romanticism is where the modern age begins, and Hazlitt was its most articulate spokesman. No one else had the ability to see it whole; no one else knew so many of its politicians, poets, and philosophers. By interpreting it for his contemporaries, he speaks to us of ourselves - of the culture and w[...]
"The Bible is alive," declared Martin Luther, "it speaks to me; it has feet, it runs after me; it has hands, it lays hold of me." The Protestant Reformation's most prominent leader was as evocative, articulate, and outspoken in his private speech as he was in public, and fortunately for posterity, s[...]
Why read Hazlitt today? Because no one celebrates better than he did the imaginative power of the mind as it invests itself in theatre, painting, literature, music and philosophy. But there is nothing fanciful or lightweight about him. He sees clearly into the darkness of the human heart, perceives [...]
Under sin levnad var William Hazlitt (1778-1830) en fruktad kritiker, och många var de som mejades ner av hans oförsonliga essäer, inte minst poeterna Wordsworth och Coleridge. Men Liber Amoris är någonting annat, något så ovanligt som en öppenhjärtig och oförsonlig självbekännelse skriv[...]
One of France's great Renaissance thinkers, Montaigne was remarkably modern in his views. These highly readable essays reflect his thoughts on poetry, philosophy, theology, law, literature, education, and world exploration. Filled with aphorisms and anecdotes, enlivened by wordplay and a delightful [...]