Customer Reviews

The Gift: Creativity and the Artist in the Modern World (Vintage)

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4 star:		(2)
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This book has been published under various subtitles since it first appeared in 1983: "Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property", "How the Creative Spirit Transforms the World" and "Creativity and the Artist in the Modern World". None of these quite captures what it really is, and that's probably because the book doesn't know what it really is, either. Lewis Hyde takes obvious delight in his work's ability to defy categorization or the pithy summary. Unique books have that quality. So do many that are poorly written. It took me a while to figure out which kind this is.

Hyde's central theorem - that true art does, and must of its nature, stand outside the market economy, and this therefore presents a serious problem for the artist forced to live in a world increasingly subsumed by the market economy - could have achieved its full elaboration in the space of a single chapter. In the first half of the book we get that, but we also get quite a lot of wide-ranging argument about economics and the traditional tribal life of gift exchange. Not all of this is relevant, but it's all admittedly fascinating. Less fascinating are Hyde's attempts to locate contemporary examples. For example, he argues rather unconvincingly that the scientific community is "a gift community to the extent that its ideas move as gifts". Fair enough, but the extent to which they do in fact move as gifts is negligible. Scientists are among the most egotistical, petty and jealously self-serving academics ever born. Science isn't about sharing ideas, or not only that. It's about promoting "my ideas" and having "my name" forever associated with them. It's about personal prestige and glory. Ask any scientist how he or she would feel about all work being published in journals anonymously, and used thereafter without attribution.

The second half of the book is given over to two long essays on poets, and here Hyde - a poet himself - is clearly on stronger ground. One is a very engaging treatment of Walt Whitman which traces elements of "the gift" idea through his poetry and sad personal life, though for some inexplicable reason Hyde doesn't quite want to state clearly what he constantly implies: that Whitman's charitable works had a good deal more sublimated homosexuality in them than they did Christian love for his fellow man. The other is an interesting analysis of Ezra Pound which traces the arc of his genius and generosity, and yet doesn't hold back from depicting him as a frustrated bigot and fascist lunatic who only recanted his vile "suburban prejudice" (anti-Semitism) at the very end.

The conclusion and afterword link elements of the gift argument to the support for the arts in postwar America and its relationship to the Cold War.

Margaret Atwood overstated the case when she apparently called this book "a masterpiece". It's very good, but it isn't that. It's overlong, weirdly structured, and in places poorly argued. Hyde often makes huge leaps in order to connect the "evidence" with his argument, or asks us to assume an assertion is true and then builds a case on the assertion without ever coming back to prove it. Disappointingly, there is very little synthesis here, nothing that binds all of these ideas into a consistent argument - and very little in the way of recommendations about how art might flourish in a market economy. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it. I came away from this book uplifted and refreshed, with a whole new way of looking at Whitman and Pound, and a new way of looking at art's place in the world. There really is no place for art in the market economy, and that's probably why art will outlive it. There is something primal and fundamentally human in art and "the gift" economy on which it relies. Both are necessary functions of human life.

"The grass is a uniform hieroglyphic." - W.W.

Some books will simply not go away.

I am glad this one has endured.

Through its many sub-title revisions, The Gift has retained its place as a prime interpreter of gift and commodity societies, and their relation to a culture of creativity. The connections Hyde constructs between art, science and literature are capable of provoking limitless discussion, increasing frustration, and possess enlightenment potential.

Hyde weaves modernity and tradition, and succinctly sums economy and philosophy at the close of chapter five where he states, "both anarchism and gift exchange share the assumption that it is not when a part of the self is inhibited and restrained, but when a part of the self is given away, that community appears."

I was initially drawn to the author by his second non-fiction prose work Trickster Makes The World: Mischief, Myth and Art. A year later, this earlier work captured my attention because of an ongoing search for contemporary sources that contain chapters on Whitman. The Gift's ninth chapter is where Hyde's genius became vivid for this reader, and as a bonus, in concert with another reviewer, my whole view of Pound shifted, especially in view of the Ginsberg story.

It is striking to see a book categorized as Literary Criticism/Sociology on the back cover of the original Vintage edition, and then noted on the copyright page as 3. Economic Anthropology, and 4. Art and Society, with three major poets' testimonies cited to Hyde's credit on the back cover. Why, because this is not the sort of crossover, or fusion (to use the music industry term) you expect to find. Reading any of the ten chapters, conclusion, new introduction, or afterword to the 25th Anniversary Edition individually is worthwhile. Especially the afterword for artists and arts communities. Reading the book in toto is deeply satisfying in a disturbing sort of way.

What led me to write this brief review was not an earnest desire to spread my Whitmananian obsession. What I discovered after finishing the ninth chapter and returning to the first in order to read the entire text, is an ethnologist's collection of tales, history, and economics, with an omniscient POV for the present. As the reader follows Hyde's stories and reasoning to the end, there will be sufficient exposure to a mind-altering view of the arts and the world. What is most gratifying is how The Gift has retained its currency, in spite of a few dated references from an earlier generation.

There are five things in particular that make Hyde's work worth reading.

1. His eloquence as he combines seemingly tangential sources. Nevertheless, as with poetry, reader patience and stamina are required.

2. The author possesses an ever-aware connection with the now, no matter how much history or philosophy he challenges readers to absorb.

3. It is apparent that Hyde maintains a capacity for change and growth within the scope of 385 pages. Note the beginning of his conclusion: ". . . Such, at any rate, were my assumptions when I began to write." I like experts who admit to being human. One expects this quality of judgment suspension in good scientific writing; to find it in a book purported to be literary criticism is heartening.

4. Hyde demonstrates a finely tuned understanding of Whitman in chapter nine, which efficiently explains the mystery of the greatest American Poet's creative awakening.

5. The Gift offers (albeit some 20 years in advance) a balance for Richard Florida's Rise of the Creative Class. Although, some may see it as a corollary work, or even a substantiation of Florida.

In order to conduct my own experiment, and add a witness to those of Bly, Zweig and Sarton found on the back cover of the original Vintage edition, I have introduced Hyde's book to the members of the Village Book Club in the form of a gift.

Whether conscious of our quest along the fabled lines of The Gift, or not, we will continue to act out the drama of Hyde's most provocative and enduring dilemma: "How, if art is essentially a gift, is the artist to survive in a society dominated by the market?" One other reviewer answered it by saying "art will outlast the market." How will you answer the question?

Again, caveat lector: this book of Hyde's is not beach reading.

The gift is to the giver . . . it cannot fail. - W. W.

There are nothing but gifts on this poor, poor Earth. - Czeslaw Milosz

I enjoy reading books that expand my perspective, but this is one of the rare books that has truly altered it, or at least given me notice that alteration is necessary.

What served me best in reading this book was the fact that it was one of only two I brought for a very long trip. This meant that I had plenty of time and less reason to be distracted. With this time I was able to pace myself through a somewhat slow beginning, tolerate the re-telling of some stories with which I was already familiar, and, by the end of Part 1, be willing to write a 4-star review of how amazing it was that Michael Lewis could have so presciently defined the logic and sensibilities of the free software and free culture movements that would blossom within ten years of the book being published. His telling of the real establishment of capitalism--that begin with Martin Luther rather than Adam Smith, and the concomitant destruction of charitable customs in Western nations provide a far more cogent explanation of both the moral bankruptcy and the actual bankruptcy of globalism than I've heard in more than one hundred hours of NPR news stories. And his explanations are spot-on for what I am seeing as a person who is involved with, and invests in, community development and sustainability. Indeed, I think it would make especially good reading in faith communities that also have a social community mission.

Then Mr. Hyde lets the other shoe drop: "the gift" describes not only the cultural practices that made economies flourish under conditions beyond the abilities or cares of capitalism, but also the human practices that enable the "genius" of creativity to flourish. The depth of his insights are staggering, and in the end they recontextualized a good portion of my own liberal arts education.

I am delighted to have read it, and look forward to applying its lessons to everything I do going forward, starting with buying enough copies to begin giving them away...

I may do an actual review later after some more reading, but some people may want to know, as I did, what relationship this book has to some other slightly differently named books by Lewis Hyde that were published under starting name "The Gift".

On the copyright page it states: Originally published in hardcover as "The Gift: Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property" in a slightly different form in the United States by Random House, Inc., New York, and published in paperback in a slightly different form in the United states by Vintage Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York in 1983.

Update #1: This edition has a three page preface from 2007. It also has a 16 page chapter from 2007 entitled "On Being Good Ancestors: Afterword to the Twenty-fifth Anniversary Edition".

This book is an eye opener. It's not just about how creative endeavors are affected by modern market society, it's about how we got here, and what it means to live in a market-driven world. It does not bash capitalism; but it gives a very accessible overview of how non-market societies used to operate, and suggests that it is still possible to strike a balance between treating art (or anything else) as commodity and as a gift. Highly recommended for anyone, not just artistic types.

I am a musician and write songs. This book opened a new way of understanding the creative process. Very well researched and documented. Highly recommended!!

This beautifully written book seems like poetry 'what oft was thought but ne'er so well expressed' yet it deals with a pragmatic issue: the issue of reward for art and the role of money. For anyone working in a creative field it is enormously cathartic and empowering as it explores almost simultaneously how essential and irrelevant money is within a creatively productive life. For anyone not working creatively, albeit profitably, it is a spur to question the worth of what they are doing.

Read this book for a class, and very grateful that it was a chosen to be read. Excellent book, truly is a gift of its own!

This book is the antidote to university education or years in the workforce. It is the same truth that broke my heart rearranged to buck it up again. Mr. Hyde, I only hope someday I can give it back again.

well so far so good, I have not finished this book yet. it is a bit long for me, not being much of a book finisher. But it is a nice slow read if you keep with it. it makes me think alot and it takes me a while to apply some of his persectives to my life. Ah but when I do! it is a very rewarding experience and truly gets me far more excited about the digging through the rest of this book. It is a bit to filled with old world tales or obscure facts about the unusual scitzophrenic rate in scottland for my tastes. Yet these stories do work and I am reminded of my philosophy 101 teacher who said, "you can tell by how well someone can illustrate something, how well they understand what they are tallking about", so over illustration is not a bad thing to me, because I do sense and feel how deeply this author believes in what he is talking about. You get the feeling he spent his whole life thinking about it. The tone reminds me of listening to my beloved father inlaw who grew up driving tractors at 11 yrs old Nebraska. The authors heart like my Father inlaws heart is the real gem of this book. I did not major in philosophy, but this feels like my kind of philosophy. the book does stick to its promise to encourage bedroom musicians and artists struggling with their place in a capitalistic world.

If you need some wholesome optimism, I can say it is working for me.

"Freely you have recieved, Freely give" maybe easier than you think.