History, Guilt and Habit [Paperback]

Owen Barfield (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 30, 2006 | ISBN-10: 1597311081 | ISBN-13: 978-1597311083 | Edition: 2

We are well supplied with interesting writers, but Owen Barfield is not content to be merely interesting. His ambition is to set us free. from the prison we have made for ourselves by our ways of knowing, our limited and false habits of thought, our 'common sense.' -Saul Bellow Few books [besides History, Guilt and Habit] . would provide a better basis for a serious discussion of modern mentality, or a better closing for a course in great books or the history of ideas. Readable at all levels. -Choice There is scarcely a single term that comprehends the range of Owen Barfield's interests and learning, though 'philosopher' would probably do as well as any, but all of his interests have been grounded in is study of history, which is to say something more than that he is a student of history. He is rather a knower of history and a thinker about it. -from the "Foreword" by G. B. Tennyson Owen Barfield, who died in 1997 shortly after entering his hundredth year, was one of the seminal minds of the twentieth century, of whom C. S. Lewis wrote "he towers above us all." His books have won respect from many writers other than Lewis, among them T. S. Eliot, J. R. R. Tolkein, and Saul Bellows, and John Lukacs. He was born in North London in 1898 and received his B.A. with first-class honors from Wadham College, Oxford, in 1921. He also earned B.C.L., M.A., and B.Litt. degrees from Oxford and was a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He served as a solicitor for twenty-eight years until his retirement from legal practice in 1959. Barfield was a visiting professor at Brandeis and Drew Universities, Hamilton College, the University of Missouri at Columbia, UCLA, SUNY-Stony Brook, and the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. His books include seven others published by The Barfield Press: Romanticism Comes of Age, Worlds Apart: A Dialogue of the 1960s, Unancestral Voice, Speaker's Meaning, What Coleridge Thought, The Rediscovery of Meaning, and History, Guilt and Habit.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: The Barfield Press; 2 edition (October 30, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1597311081
• ISBN-13: 978-1597311083
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.3 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,585,904 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Rather Short June 30, 2008

By I. L. Barrett

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This short collection of only three essay, speeches rather, from the venerable Owen Barfield is a mediocre example of the works he produced. The introduction states that many of the ideas he produced here are expansions to his previous essays and books, and having read them I concur.

This book is worth picking up to freshen up ideas of consciousness and language relations, certainly not for setting a foundation for which I would suggest Poetic Diction, hands down.

The real gem in this collection, though, is the final chapter about creating new habits and society given understanding played out in the two previous chapters. An encouraging word for those who wish to proceed with an enlightened life.

4.0 out of 5 stars Small is Beautiful May 15, 2012

By S. Sagarin

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I've used this book for several years in history courses to introduce Barfield's ideas. As a later, condensed version of his thinking, it pays off big. Yes, if you're taken with these ideas, you should read Poetic Diction and my favorite, Saving the Appearances. But History, Guilt & Habit summarizes important ideas in clear and direct language, without the strangeness of "alpha thinking" and other Barfieldian terms that pepper some of his other works. Because the chapters in this book were transcribed from lectures, it has a direct and conversational tone that makes it accessible in a way that longer works may not be. As an introduction to Barfield's thinking, this is as good as it gets.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing March 25, 2008

By Gerard Casey

Format:Paperback

This book - rather, booklet(less than 100 pages with big print and wide margins) - adds little to what can be gleaned from Barfield's major works.