Synopses & Reviews
Flourishing is the first volume of a keenly awaited edition of the marvellously readable and entertaining letters of the most famous English intellectual of the last century.
“Life is not worth living unless one can be indiscreet to intimate friends,” wrote Isaiah Berlin to a correspondent. Flourishing inaugurates a keenly awaited edition of Berlins letters that might well adopt this remark as an epigraph. Isaiah Berlins life was enormously worth living, both for himself and for us; and fortunately he said a great deal to his friends on paper as well as in person. The indiscretions, though engaging, are of course only part of the story. Berlin is one of the best modern exponents of the disappearing art of letter-writing.
During the two decades covered here we see his personality and career growing and blooming. In America he writes a regular telegram to his anxious parents, often saying just “flourishing.” The word is entirely apt, not only for his wartime experience, but for the whole of his early life, vividly displayed in this book in all its multi-faceted delightfulness.
Synopsis
Berlin's letters are marvellously accessible, and as entertaining. During the two decades covered here his personality and career grow and bloom. In America, during the war, he writes a regular telegram to his anxious parents, often saying just 'Flourishing'; the word fits not only his wartime experience, but the whole of his early life, vividly displayed in this book in all its multi-faceted delightfulness.
Synopsis
Isaiah Berlin is one of the towering intellectual figures of the 20th century and the focus of growing discussion among those interested in politics and philosophy alike. In this engaging compendium, the man behind the intellectual figure is finally revealed in a substantial collection of personal letters. This volume follows Berlin from the age of 18 when he is still a pupil through his college days at Oxford and his initial years of teaching. It follows his journey to U.S. at the outbreak of World War II and his eventual return to Britain in 1946. Vividly displayed here are the growing intellectual prowess and passion for life that would come to define Berlins future years.
About the Author
Isaiah Berlin (1909-1997) was a noted political philosopher and is widely regarded as one of the leading liberal thinkers of the 20th century. He was awarded the Erasmus, Lippincott, and Agnelli prizes for his contributions to philosophy. Henry Hardy is one of Isaiah Berlins Literary Trustrees and the editor of several other books by Berlin.