Customer Reviews

Fragments: The Collected Wisdom of Heraclitus

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is what's left of the work of Heraclitus, the most interesting and enigmatic of the pre-Socratic philosophers. Diversity and constant mutation; the contraries which are reconciled in the final and total unity of Logos. Heraclitus tells us that the Universe is in permanent, constant transformation, that this perennial movement is embedded in the One, the summing up of all things which constitutes only one concept (Logos). The opposite of Parmenides, who emphasized Unity over Diversity and transformation, Heraclitus is proof that, by his time (6th century BC), educated Greeks took mythology basically as literature and folklore, but not as serious reilgion: their minds had expanded well beyond the fantastic adventures of the many antropomorphic Gods, to devise and understand that the Divinity has to be the final Unity, whatever its form. Heraclitus is, surprisingly, extremely "modern" in his approach to Nature and Divinity. The fragments reveal a powerful intellect, a real and relevant precursor of Western culture and civilization. Recommendable both to professional philosophers (whatever that means) and to the public interested in reflecting about the Universe and what it is.

I know enough Greek to question the faithfulness of most of these poetic transliterations of the original. But that is beside the point. If you want a literal translation pick up a Harvard LCL edition and scan the dry as dust academic parallel rendering. I sometimes wonder if poets don't make the best translators. Here is a text vivid and gripping and sounding in modern ears with a booming resonance.

Additional thoughts:

1. This a beautifully produced edition with the Greek on the left and Haxton's fine poetry on the right. As usual, I skipped the foreward and notes preferring to commune directly with the Master rather than through the medium of a posturing chorus of academic factotums.

2. The information age was supposed to witness the twilight of the great age of printing. How wrong. It is a miracle that in this age Viking is publishing a side by side Greek and English version of a book two and half millennia old! Perhaps the great age of the Printed Book is only now dawning.

As another reviewer said, (and i was thinking the same thing before i read their review), it seems geared toward upper middle class, bored housewives with little or no previous interest in ancient Greek philosophy. To still use the word "God" (capitalized) in a Heraclitus fragment is so blatant that it would surprise me if anyone who knows anything about the pre-socratics, and who has thought about their ideas would bother with such a book. No doubt that is what Mr. Haxton was wagering on before putting the original Greek next to the English translations.

I'm not degrading this merely because it is a coffee table book, i'm attacking it because it is in bad taste and adds absolutely no fresh perspective to Heraclitus' fragments or his life. I suggest looking at, instead, Luciano DeCrescenzo's "The History of Greek Philosophy Volume I: The Pre-Socratics" for a lively and interesting read (including biographical details).

"The Collected Wisdom..." is a hard cover as well, which makes not a lot of sense (other than the nice presentation) considering the length of the book. You could happily buy a book with all the fragments for nearly the same price or cheaper. No doubt the reason why Amazon knocked $6 off the original price was because there were too many unopened boxes collecting dust. Let the bookworms eat these ones.

The last thing we need is for the words of a man like Heraclitus to end up on bad robot-rock album covers or as band names (the same fate that Nietzsche now, regretfully, seems to be suffering from). It would seem that Roger Von Oech has decided to try his hand at the craps table as well with "Expect the Unexpected (Or You Won't Find It): A Creativity Tool Based on the Ancient Wisdom of Heraclitus". Are people really so dumb that they need these pre-digested, refined, books full of preservatives to inspire them? I am all for more simplified introductions, but if that means pandering and studying current trends, then what you'll always get is an ugly bastardization. The whole point of philosophy is to make people think!!

And yes, i realize that basically every translator of any kind of philosophy (regardless of time or place) uses "God" as a substitute for the original thinker's conception and belief system. I would call it Christian revisionism ... though it may also be because most translators cannot give their readers the benefit of the doubt and compromise their writings by pandering or making the work more digestible. Or simply because so few can translate from a more neutral standpoint or stand outside their religion for the sake of the writing.

a.n.

p.s. If anyone knows of any good translations of pre-Christian/non-Christian European philosophy which does not suffer from the aforementioned peccadillos, i would be interested to find out more about them

This is a marvellous translation of Heraclitus' fragments into verse which captures the fiery quality of Heraclitus' original voice. With the Greek text opposite the translation, those with knowledge of Greek have the added pleasure of comparing the English with the original.

I would have given the book five stars if only the foreword had not been written by a pop psychologist. This fellow, obviously a Jungian analyst, manages to write the most meaningless, fallacious, and ridiculous short essay I've ever read on any topic. While American psychoanalysts are obviously eager to vulgarize their own schools of thought into irrelevance, it's sad to see Heraclitus given this kind of treatment. One can only hope that this kind of thing will not be repeated, since the idea of one day finding myself reading John Bradshaw's thoughts on Parmenides or Dr. Laura's ruminations on Anaximander scares me. A lot.

These fragments don't always fit together, but because of the unusual nature of a collection like this it is more than tolerable. The fragments are in Greek or Latin on the left side of the page with a translation on the right. The translations are vivid, almost poetic, although some of the terms that are explained in the introduction can throw off the flow of the words. Heraclitus is insightful, intriguing, and startlingly contemporary. The price may be a bit high, but is worth it for those who seek wisdom.

If you're looking to brush up on some of the roots of philosophy, this is a good book to read. This book is very short, hence why it is called Fragments. I read it in its entirety in an hour. I liked the fact that the author included the Greek translation along with the translation. However, the commentary is weak to be kind. There could have been much more regarding the influence of this work on the following Greek philosophers, or a look at parallel systems developing in the same time period. I recommend waiting for the paperback if one is ever published.

Hillman's Fragments is not the most scholarly study of Heraclitus. Here Charles Kahn's dry as dust, ponderous tome, The Art and Thought of Heraclitus is better. It's also incredibly dull and a chore to read. If you are more interested in memorable meaning than scholarly explanation buy this edition but remember what you are getting. I own both and the Kahn source is a great depth book. Buy both and double the value of your experience of Heraclitus.

I was given this book as a gift and I read it with great eagerness and subsequent amazement for the mind of Heraclitus. However, the English translation of the ancient Greek text is beyond imaginative. In certain instances the English translation does not correspond to the Greek text at all. My recommendation is to give the faithful translation first(so that the public can comprehend the essence of the philosopher) and if the author wishes to offer a poetically rephrased version such would be fine too.

After all, Mr. Haxton having undertaken the task of re-introducing Heraclitus' thoughts he might want to avoid being a target of the philosopher's own words:

"The majority of people have no understanding of the things with which they daily meet, nor, when instructed, do they have any right knowledge of them, although to themselves they seem to have".

Enough of the Newage "poetical" translations -- Stephen Mitchell did us all a disservice. Try as they might, modern translators cannot convince that Heraclitus was a New Age thinker.

I have long loved Heraclitus and this is a delightful translation. Read the helpful introduction by the author before you dive in BUT skip the horrid forward. It is filled with dozens of logical contradictions and makes Heraclitus sound like a POMO moron. Even the quotes used in the forward contradict the writer's terrible mis-reading of Heraclitus. I would have given the book 5 stars if the forward had been written by a real Heraclitus scholar or left out completely.