The Genius of John Ruskin: Selections from His Writings (Victorian Literature and Culture Series) [Paperback]

John D. Rosenberg (Author), Herbert F. Tucker (Foreword)

Book Description

Series: Victorian Literature and Culture Series | Publication Date: January 28, 1998

No figure among the Victorians surpasses John Ruskin in magnitude of genius, modernity of message, or mastery of prose. Yet for the first half-century after his death in 1900, his genius lay largely undiscovered. First published in 1963, John D. Rosenberg's The Genius of John Ruskin aimed to make Ruskin's ideas and writings accessible to the modern reader, and it quickly became a classic. Long out of print, this important anthology is now available with a new foreword by Herbert F. Tucker and an expanded and updated bibliography by the author that takes into account recent Ruskin scholarship.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Teaching anthologies belong to an ephemeral genre, yet among them The Genius of John Ruskin has become that rare thing, a classic.

We can hardly do better than Rosenberg's collection, with its balance of esthetic, social, and background material.

(New York Review of Books )

An impressive -- and even for jaded palettes -- surprisingly readable set of selections. Rosenberg's incisive yet sympathetic introductions provide groundlines for orientation to the generous selections.

(Library Journal )

A comprehensive selection for the modern reader from the great mass of Ruskin's works, conveying the remarkable range of his thought and powers of expression. Professor Rosenberg's introduction and comments are models of contemporary interpretation and understanding.

(Times Literary Supplement )

About the Author

John D. Rosenberg is the William Peterfield Trent Professor of English at Columbia University and the author of the award-winning Ruskin biography The Darkening Glass, among other books. Herbert F. Tucker is Professor of English at the University of Virginia.

Product Details

• Paperback: 566 pages
• Publisher: University of Virginia Press; New edition edition (January 28, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813917891
• ISBN-13: 978-0813917894
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #976,460 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

59 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rosenberg's Edition of Ruskin Remains Unchallenged, October 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Genius of John Ruskin: Selections from His Writings (Victorian Literature and Culture Series) (Paperback)

It is a great pity that the works of Ruskin are neither widely read nor widely available. One can only hope that the day will come when an affordable, comprehensive, multi-volume collection will become available. For now, we may be thankful for the work of Columbia University's John Rosenberg, who has given us perhaps as fine an introduction to Ruskin as can be hoped for. The selections are long and judiciously made, and they address Ruskin in all important aspects of his work: art critic, social heretic, autobiographer. This book is like a wise old friend, especially comforting in a world that has in so many ways departed from the values that this volume enshrines. A faithful rendering of an indispensable author.

37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfection of Seeing, Being, and Creating..., March 17, 2002

By 

A Customer - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Genius of John Ruskin: Selections from His Writings (Victorian Literature and Culture Series) (Paperback)

One can hardly read any thoughtful analysis or
evaluation of art, artists, even poets, without
coming upon a quote from John Ruskin. Yet one
may read the quote, realize its acuteness, but
then proceed on -- without really knowing anything
about John Ruskin himself, or about his ideas
and works. That is a tragic loss. Ruskin was an
English art critic and scholar, as well as a
cultural and philosphical historian who
lived from 1819 to 1900.
He attended and graduated from Oxford University,
and in 1869 was appointed first Slade Professor
of Fine Art at Oxford.
John Ruskin seems to me to be a combination of
Plato, godly Greek sculptors, and Thoreau. His
own senses, apparently (just like Thoreau's) were
extremely acute...he has incredible sharpness of
vision. But even more telling, he has incredible
command of vision and the language to express it
with. He seems, at times, like a Homer of artistic
cultural and philosophical expression.
This volume is a compilation of excerpts from
Ruskin's major writings: MODERN PAINTERS I, II,
III, IV, and V/ THE SEVEN LAMPS OF ARCHITECTURE/
THE STONES OF VENICE/ THE TWO PATHS/ UNTO THIS
LAST/ THE CROWN OF WILD OLIVE/ SESAME AND LILIES/
THE QUEEN OF THE AIR/ FORS CLAVIGERA/ FICTION, FAIR
AND FOUL/ THE STORM-CLOUD OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY/
and PRAETERITA. There are multiple excerpts from
each of these works, and each excerpt is followed
by a very helpful citation of the volume, part,
section, and chapter of the work where the excerpt
is found.
Ruskin is not "merely" an acute analyzer and
evaluator of art and architecture, but he also is
an artistic and ethical philosopher. His philosophy
seems to have a strong dose of PAGAN GREEK (Plato)
underpinning, which interacts interestingly with
the Evangelical Protestantism overlaid when he
was young by his mother's strict Bible lessons.
His whole life seems to have been a struggle
between these two grappling forces, like the

statue of "The Wrestlers" from Hellenistic times.
Ruskin idolized and glorified the painter
Joseph Mallord William Turner [J.M.W. Turner].
He seems to have set out on a crusade while still
a teen-ager (17) by writing an essay defending
Turner and his art -- his admiration, esteem,
and idolatry continued even after he had gone
to Oxford University and began writing his art
criticism works.
Ruskin's topics sound like a role-call of
classical virtues and perfection seeking -- and
like Thoreau, he bemoans the fact that more
people do not wake up, see intently, and live
better lives. I personally find Ruskin's admonitions
to be inspiring, rather than merely preachy. He
obviously has a vision (like a prophet), a wondrous
sense of beauty and appreciation, and a fine mind
and expressive ability which create words of golden
glow. Yet he also has a heart of reproof towards
the mercantilism of his times (in one speech he
tells his audience that they have two religions,
one which they pay lip-service and tithes to,
and the other religion of their practicality,
the one they actually live by -- and he says:
"...but we are all unanimous about this practical
one; of which I think you will admit that the ruling
goddess may be best generally described as the
'Goddess of Getting-on,' or 'Britannia of the
Market.'")
Some of the topic titles in the various sections
give one the flavor of his insights and vision:
"Definition of Greatness in Art"; "That the Truth
of Nature in Not to Be Discerned by the Uneducated
Senses"; "Of Truth of Space"; and "Of the Naturalist
Ideal." In his works on architecture, there are
such topic titles as "The Lamp of Truth" and "The
Lamp of Memory."
The editor of this volume, John D. Rosenberg, has
done a masterful, insightful job of presenting
Ruskin and his views -- and the Univ. Press of
Virginia have done a masterful job of printing
and binding those valuable views in an attractive
and valuable volume.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Classic Anthology, December 5, 2000

By 

Ryuichi (Ayaseshi, Kanagawaken Japan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Genius of John Ruskin: Selections from His Writings (Victorian Literature and Culture Series) (Paperback)

Highly acclaimed anthology of John Ruskin, this book is made out of 39 vols Library Edition of John Ruskin's works, supported by 5 pillars--art, architecture, society, solitude and self and compiled chronologically.In the introduction, Herbert Tucker estimates this book as a classic anthology. It is followed by Rosenberg's preface, and before each section mentioned above is his own explanatory comment. This is extremely superb in style as well as contents. At the end of the book is a new bibliography, to some of which entries brief comments are added. As Ruskin's writings, especially those in early years, are not easy to read, this book is priceless. Among relatively rare entries are "Traffic" in The Clown of Wild Olive, "Athena Keramitis" in Queen of the Air, and "Essay I" in Fiction Fair and Foul. Compared with the previous anthology by Kenneth Clark, "Ruskin Today", this one is inferior in variety but far superior in amount. Now we have the Ruskin's Complete Works in one CD-ROM, but it cannot be read, say, in a train or bed unless printed out. Concisely selected, this book is, I think, quite valuable when kept by your side.