Recently, I found myself with some forced leisure on my hands, so I decided to make use of it by reading through the works of Rene Guenon in English, as published by Sophia Perennis. Yes, that's the kind of guy I am. In the midst of the project, this book was announced, and I was undecided; would it be redundant? In the end I decided to get it, and I'm glad I did.
First of all, the presentation is excellent -- a handsome size, sturdy binding, clear, well laid out typography, in line with the rest of World Wisdom's publications -- a pleasure to read. Some illustrations would have been nice, especially in the sections dealing with sacred symbolism, and one can always imagine a fancier format -- something along the lines of the Penguin Classics Deluxe Editions -- but these are minor points.
More importantly, the selections are well chosen; they are minimally edited but arranged to flow together almost as if they had appeared that way originally; usually two or three in a row from the same book, the books appearing somewhat chronologically but also within four "Worlds" : the Modern, the Metaphysical, the Hindu, and the Traditional. I suppose the Modern comes first, not the Metaphysical, to ease the modern reader into Guenon's metaphysical world; the Hindu is given its own due to the amount of attention Guenon devoted to it, while the Traditional has not only other traditions such as Islam but also topics that apply to traditions generally, such as rites, teachers, etc.
The selections, with few exceptions, are drawn from a handful of obvious major works; there's nothing here that's previously unpublished, or newly translated; no letters, diaries, etc. The Introduction, however, is drawn from a transcript of a lecture by Martin Lings that might be relatively inaccessible to the general reader.
This would obviously make a fine introduction to Guenon, but even someone who already has the original sources will find this a useful and pleasant supplement, something to pick up and read from time to time. I am reminded of Elmer O'Brien's comment about his similar anthology, The Essential Plotinus [not to be confused with World Wisdom's own The Heart of Plotinus]: these selections are essential in the sense that Coleridge spoke of essential poetry: the passages one returns to with the greatest pleasure.
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