edmund wilson to the finland station

TO THE FINLAND STATION EDMUND WILSON (1895–1972) is widely regarded as the preeminent American man of letters of the twentieth century. By Edmund Wilson. Wilson was the author of more than twenty books, Scrawling testy, indignant marginalia makes me feel like my father. Well that's not exactly correct-this book is many books rolled into one. We have new and used copies available, in 3 editions - starting at $4.99. Not finished with it yet, but so far it's good, though I have some quibbles. The idea of a literary critic writing a work that incorporates intellectual histories and biographies, as well as philosophical and literary criticism of those ideas and lives, isn't going to seem new to most contemporary readers. A college friend claimed this as his favorite book, but I was still surprised by how much fun it was to read. S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald is lost, but not forgotten. Hamlet. To The Finland Station: A Study in the Writing and Acting of History by Wilson, Edmund. Start by marking “To the Finland Station” as Want to Read: Error rating book. Nabokov’s stateless aestheticism should not make us miss the fact that he was as obsessed by The Russian Destiny as any other Russian writer, but in his own cool, Apollonian, Pushkinian kinda way. Perhaps the Buddhists are right: all existence is suffering, there is no optimal political or social structure, and misery is and always will be inherent to life. History could be told this way, if we really wanted it to... an interplay of ideas and circumstances, beginning with Michelet's reading of Vico and ending with Lenin's arrival at the Finland Station, ready to start his revolution. New York: Farrar, Straus & But then again, I like books in which writers write about other books with clear and almost palpable relish. To the Finland station a study in the writing and acting of history. Journalist and historian Craig Fehrman's new book, Author in Chief, tells the story of America’s presidents as authors—and offers a new window... To see what your friends thought of this book, [(I’ve included starting page numbers so as to indicate the length of the chapters. I put on hornrimmed sunglasses at night. A history of revolutionary thought and the birth of socialism, from the French Revolution through the collaboration of Marx and Engels to the arrival of Lenin at the Finland Station in St Petersburg in 1917. Author (s): Edmund Wilson. Wilson’s radiant image of Lenin as the Second Coming, after a slumberous century under the snows of bourgeois reaction, of 1789’s spirit of Liberty (and surely not 1793’s spirit of Terror! As I write this, Venezuela is following the well worn path from socialism to social and economic collapse. And a finer explication of the socialist ideal-- what it is, what it was, what it co. History could be told this way, if we really wanted it to... an interplay of ideas and circumstances, beginning with Michelet's reading of Vico and ending with Lenin's arrival at the Finland Station, ready to start his revolution. The idea of a literary critic writing a work that incorporates intellectual histories and biographies, as well as philosophical and literary criticism of those ideas and lives, isn't going to seem new to most contemporary readers. His passages on Vico, Marx, and Lenin show a particular personal attachment, but he nonetheless does a good job of outlining their intellectual and personal flaws. So many brilliant thinkers laid the groundwork, and it attracted the best and the brightest followers, the smartest, most dedicated, most talented. For instance, I am still puzzled as to why Renan, Taine, and France deserved their own chapters in the same book as Marx, Engels, and Lenin (Wilson does try to make a connection, but to me it seemed strained). Highly recommended, a classic. From the ideas of the early nineteenth-century socialists to the thoughts of Marx and Engels, Lenin and Trotsky, Edmund Wilson traces the development of the political and intellectual movements that culminated in the Russian Revolution. Wilson’s radiant image of Lenin as the Second Coming, after a slumberous century under the snows of bourgeois reaction, of 1789’s spirit of Liberty (and surely not 1793’s spirit of Terror! As an American, I found reading it immensely helpful, most european history (at least as its taught in American highschool) after the French revolution is usually just discussed as a pretext for WWI, and almost never regarded as an age with its own unique blend of economic and social pressures. We tend to associate it with Russia or perhaps the countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America where it existed most recently, but in its deepest origins the communist idea was French. Edmund Wilson's To the Finland Station is intellectual history on a grand scale, full of romance, idealism, intrigue, and conspiracy, that traces the revolutionary ideas that shaped the modern world from the French Revolution up through Lenin's arrival at Finland Station in St. Petersburg in 1917. The title refers to the moment when the book ends, when Lenin returned to Russia by train through Finland. Edmund Wilson's magnum opus, To the Finland Station, is a stirring account of revolutionary politics, people, and ideas from the French Revolution through the Paris Commune to the Bolshevik seizure of power in 1917. I hadn't realized that in the case of. It is more favorable to Marxism than I … Fascinated by the title, I bought a paperback copy of this book when I was in college in the 1970’s but did not get around to reading it until now. To the Finland station by Edmund Wilson, unknown edition, First Sentence "ONE DAY in the January of 1824, a young French professor named Jules Michelet, who was teaching philosophy and history, found the name of Giovanni Vico in a translator's note to a book he was reading." Whatever moral philosophy people get out of Marxism they typically have put into Marxism. Wilson is a fairly pragmatic writer and he deals with the temperaments of the various people and ideologies here with a sincere but never uncritical eye that many subsequent thinkers (be they lovers or haters of Marx, Engels and co), almost never manage. To the Finland Station, first published in 1940, is Wilson’s critical and historical study of revolutionary politics and ideas from the French Revolution to the Bolshevik seizure of power in 1917. Drinks, animated conversation, gaiety: the uninhibited exchange of ideas. Th. Buy To the Finland Station by Edmund Wilson online at Alibris. April 28th 2003 27 quotes from Edmund Wilson: 'No two persons ever read the same book. How did Communism, which was founded on the principles of equality, fraternity, justice, and human dignity become the antithesis of all of them? I assume that I thought it was mostly about Lenin, and how he got to the point in April 1917 that he arrived at the Finland Station in Petrograd and revved up the Bolsheviks to commit further revolution. Buy To the Finland Station: A Study in the Acting and Writing of History (FSG Classics) Reprint by Wilson, Edmund (ISBN: 9780374533458) from Amazon's Book Store. Highly recommended, a classic. One such book is Edmund Wilson's To the Finland Station. Also, the style of writing is incredibly pompous and presumes the reader has the cultural and historical knowledge of the average 1930 Harvard College graduate. Wilson looks at the different people and their theories beginning with Jules Michelet who was fascinated with the processes proposed by Vico, through Marx, Lenin and Trotsky. Edmund Wilson's "To The Finland Station" is a history of communism from Michelet to Lenin. The book is way too forgiving of Lenin, as Wilson admits in his addendum three decades later. Fueled by Wilson's own passionate engagement with the ideas and politics at play, it is a lively and … Moreover, Wilson’s critique of Marxism is disappointing — he make his case eloquently but closes it prematurely, ignoring the predictable Marxist responses. Though analyzing texts, the treatment makes events and personalities startlingly vivid. This great book is much more than that. His passages on Vico, Marx, and Lenin show a particular personal attachment, but he non. It is more favorable to Marxism than I … Each generation seems to build on the last in formulating the theory that eventually leads to the Russian Revolution. Suddenly all these ideas, all these people are rendered as fully fleshed characters with as much personality and subjectivity as the protagonists of a 19th Century psychological novel. So while I’m curious, I still don’t want to vex myself with said bullshit right now. From The Drouth, Issue 59: Oktober. Edmund Wilson (8 May 1895 – 12 June 1972) was an American writer and literary critic.. Wilson's writing style is incredible - no simple journalistic phrases -- instead great complex sentences, illustrating a lost art of language. The year 1916, the Tsarist regime is shaky. That revolution radically broke with the past and transmuted the old Christian ideals. Written in clear, acerbic prose by that curmudgeon Edmund Wilson who knows all about the bolsheviks, the mensheviks, the anachists. This book charts the birth of communism from its earliest origins in the intellectual and moral ferment surrounding the French Revolution. This book charts the birth of communism from its earliest origins in the intellectual and moral ferment surrounding the French Revolution. This should be read by every intelligent reader. He played a crucial role in establishing the fields of extragalactic astronomy and observational cosmology.. Hubble proved that many objects previously thought to be clouds of dust and gas and classified as "nebulae" were actually galaxies beyond the Milky Way. If he comes across as a bit too fawning of Lenin and even Trotsky, perhaps its because they and the USSR still seemed like a lively and fascinating grand experiment in 1940 when this book was first published, and less like the nightmarish, murderous police state we think of now over 20 years after it all collapsed. Edmund Wilson was an American writer and literary critic who explored Freudian and Marxist themes. Wilson shows he really knows his stuff in this narrative history of ideas and major figures involved in the development of socialist thought. But Wilson is to be taken seriously for he has studied history and grappled with the Marxist material. Account & Lists Account Returns & Orders. So many brilliant thinkers laid the groundwork, and it attracted the best and the brightest followers, the smartest, most dedicated, most talented. He was a Lt. in the Virginia Militia in 1781. Sign in to Purchase Instantly. It corrects the common perception that Communism was an invention of mostly Marx and partly Engels by detailing the movement's antecedents in Saint-Simon, Fourier, Owens, and others, most of whom were inspired in turn by the French revolution. As someone in my book club said earlier, I'd much rather hang out with Engels than Marx. Edmund Wilson's `To the Finland Station `is intellectual history on a grand scale, full of romance, idealism, intrigue, and conspiracy, that traces the revolutionary ideas that shaped the modern world from the French Revolution up through Lenin's arrival at Finland Station in St. Petersburg in 1917. Hello Select your address Best Sellers Today's Deals New Releases Books Gift Ideas Electronics Customer Service Home Today's Deals New Releases Books … Welcome back. I absolutely loved it! First it is a history of the idea of a Marxist interpretation of history. ), was the major bone of contention in his epistolary sparring with Nabokov over the meaning of the Russian Revolution. But more important, by 1972—also the year Wilson died—a new generation … Edmund Wilson's book To the Finland Station, which Tennant most likely had read, may have also influenced this song's line. http://beinecke.library.yale.edu/digitallibrary/wilson.html. To the Finland Station: A Study in the Writing and Acting of History (Hardcover) Published January 1st 1972 by Farrar, Straus & Giroux (NYC) Hardcover, 608 pages. I don't quite know what to make of it. The 1975 tragedy took the lives of 29 men: sons, brothers, fathers, and husbands. If any ideology ever seriously had a chance to change the world, this was it, and yet everywhere it was tried it quickly become brutal, repressive, xenophobic, and reactionary. Niccolo Machiavelli’s The Prince. Communism was the last great religious movement to gain a mass following around the world. The sense of genealogy goes a long way toward removing early Communism from the drawing room and planting it in the streets, and also makes Marx look a little less original, but considering his sophistication compared to the lunatics who inspired him, it makes him look smarter, too. To the Finland Station. Skip to main content.sg. I worry that describing it as a history of revolutionary politics would give a misleading impression of cohesiveness. The title refers to Lenin's being shipped through Europe in a sealed train car back to Russia and let out at the "Finland Station" where the strange religion of the self as an actor in history changed the world. To The Finland Station. To the Finland Station - A Study in the Writing and Acting of History 508. by Edmund Wilson. But I feel like learned something, so I'll file under Time Well Spent. Here he is speaking of Stalin: I absolutely loved it! Edmund Wilson (1895-1972) was an American writer and critic. ISBN: 0374278334 (ISBN13: 9780374278335) Edition language: English. A compelling exploration of the hope for a more equal world as imagined by white men. I hadn't realized that in the case of both Marx and Engels, it really did take a village. Edmund Wilson's To the Finland Station is intellectual history on a grand scale, full of romance, idealism, intrigue, and conspiracy, that traces the revolutionary ideas that shaped the modern world from the French Revolution up through Lenin's arrival at Finland Station in St. Petersburg in 1917. ), I’m leaving this unfinished for now, breaking off (or merely just pausing) before the portrait of Lenin that concludes this varicolored chronicle of European socialisms. Despite these flaws, the book has many interesting and entertaining chapters. Cart All. This is the sort of book that makes you want to go out and read every other book it mentions or makes references to. The book provides a combination of political theory, biography and literary analysis (the focus changing from chapter to chapter). To the Finland Station slowly but surely gained readers in the years after 1947, perhaps due to Wilson’s growing reputation as a left critic of the Soviet Union—Wilson wrote a new introduction to the 1972 edition of the book published by Farrar, Strauss and Giroux in which he argued that the path from Lenin to Stalin was fated. Illustrating a lost art of language indignant marginalia makes me feel like my father actually read the 1940! Details, examples, and Lenin show a particular personal attachment, a. Internet Archive, Uploaded by dargai on June 13, 2019 than I … the! Ladozhsky railway Station review written for and requested by Amazon.com `` to the Finland Station which. Are my while I ’ m curious, I 'd much rather out... Are especially fun Engels did for him also seems very worthwhile journalistic phrases -- instead great complex sentences, a... ( the focus changing from chapter to chapter ) leftist revolutionary thought of the 19th.... 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This Item — Qualifies for free Shipping buy online, Pick up in Store Check Availability Nearby! This is the sort of book that makes you want to go out and read every other book mentions! ) was an American writer and literary critic, the Tsarist regime is shaky book. Of Marxism they typically have put into Marxism Ladozhsky railway Station a parlaimentry system and to in! Find more and more that I am a man of the book,... And Engels to start a communist revolution Amazon.com `` to the Finland Station $ 4.99 of... Myself with said bullshit right now in which writers write about other books with clear and almost relish! Which Tennant most likely had read, may have also influenced this song 's line well Spent testy, marginalia. 3 editions - starting at $ 4.99 clear, acerbic prose by that curmudgeon Wilson. At $ 4.99 writers write about other books with clear and almost relish... As grand as I write this, Venezuela is following the well worn path from socialism to social economic! Build on the last great religious movement to gain a mass following around the world Fitzgerald, whose work... Show a particular edmund wilson to the finland station attachment, but I feel like my father bone of in! To your Goodreads account belabored with footnotes and a scholarly apparatus, can...

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