Customer Reviews

Thinking in Time: An Introduction to Henri Bergson

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2 star:		(1)
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A introductory book on the philosophy of Bergson, which ends with two (short) chapters discussing the recent "return to Bergson." Guerlac's monograph reads as though it were rather hastily put together, as though she ran out of time to properly develop the material.
An example: chapter 5 (Channels of Contemporary Reception) is a particularly useful subject and the chapter begins well, but it swiftly descends to uselessness, stitched together by a series of quotes and paraphrases from various theorists, as well as endless footnotes which include further quotes and paraphrases (there are 97 footnotes for a chapter 23 pages long). (It doesn't help either that Guerlac moves much too quickly through the Bergsonian influence on Deleuze's Cinema books - relying, it seems to me, too heavily on Mark Hansen's commentary - as well as Deleuze and Guattari's concept of "the machinic.")
Worse is the treatment of Bergson's texts, but for a different reason. The majority of Guerlac's book is an explication of two Bergson works: Time and Free Will and Matter and Memory. (Why Creative Evolution is not given the same treatment is a mystery to me.) Having just re-read Matter and Memory, I have to say that I found Guerlac's chapter on this great work completely without point: she simply repeats his argument but in her own words (except when she is directly quoting the original). Why not read the original instead, which is exquisitely written and endlessly fascinating?
The purpose of such an introductory work should be to clarify and contextualize; to give a student some footholds as they explore the difficult (but richly rewarding) original texts. What is the purpose of a 67-page paraphrase of Matter and Memory except to discourage the student from reading the original (by having the student believe they have somehow already done so - and not by reading the 200 page original but the 67 page copy)?
The book is not without some merit, but it needed several more rewrites and some judicious pruning. (And instead of 2 LONG chapters on Bergson's first two philosophical texts, it should have had 4 shorter chapters on ALL of his major philosophical works: Time and Free Will, Matter and Memory, Creative Evolution, and Two Sources of Morality and Religion.)
I'd give the book 2 1/2 stars, if it were possible, but since it is not I will go for the lower rating, because it is closer to 2 stars than 3.

I read this book along with the new French critical edition of "Time and free will" (Essais sur les données immédiates de la conscience) edited with notes by Arnaud Bouaniche. I found Suzanne Guerlac's commentary to be of great help, clarifying the text when it is very dense and difficult, such as in the section on Spinoza. Yet perhaps Ms. Guerlac is too certain about the way Bergson asserts the concept of duration as a form of energy, a force, that is independent from the principle of conservation of energy of physics. (p. 77) It seems to me that Bergson only puts this forward as a hypothesis.

Thinking in Time is a lucid guide to Bergson's ideas. It illuminates his writings on time and memory with exceptional clarity. These fundamental aspects of his philosophy even now offer a radical challenge to many of our assumptions. A brilliant and timely contribution.