Has anyone read this book (specifically this translation)? It is necessary to read his earlier works to understand him? Is it good?
Roberto Calasso
Ian Cook
Jaxson Ward
The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony is one of the most amazing books I have ever read. I am torn between getting Ruins of Kasch and Unnameable Present or Ka and Ardor. He is without a doubt a genius of the highest class.
Thomas Jenkins
I have an old Hindu-philia I wouldn't mind re-kindling with Ka if he's that great
Austin Powell
>Roberto Calasso is an Italian writer and publisher. Apart from his mother tongue, Calasso is fluent in French, English, Spanish, German, Latin and ancient Greek. He has also studied Sanskrit.
god i am a fucking brainlet
smite me from this earth
Joseph Parker
It's on libgen. Haven't read it yet, but it's been compared to the ruins of kasch, which is unarguably one of the greatest books of our generation. My impression of Calasso's books is that he's attempting to trace out the shifting forms (in an almost Spenglerian sense) behind history, and while you can jump in at any point (even within his books), it's probably best to start with Ka, since that's his most accessible. The Art of The Publisher is also a very underated book, short and surprisingly personal compared to his other work.
Juan James
Thank you user. Most summaries of TUP mention it's a type of follow-up to Kasch, so I suppose I ought to pick that one up as well. If my breadth of knowledge in art and European history is not especially deep will I be in over my head with Kasch?
Tyler Morales
no matter what you'll be out of your depth in Kasch. Just enjoy it.
If you really want to get the most out of Kasch however, listen to a podcast on Rene Girard (one of Calasso's friends and a great thinker in his own right) and read Kissenger's A World Restored (which will give a quick overview of the time period in question).
Levi Rivera
>a podcast on Rene Girard
I feel like you have a specific one in mind here, please name it
Parker Brown
Forging plowshares is a good one. Really though, just having an idea of his theory so you understand the references will help understand (sort of, although you should really read Ka) what Calasso is saying
Hunter Stewart
Haven't read this one, but based on the quality of his other books I would be willing to bet this is excellent. Calasso is consistently phenomenal.
Benjamin Myers
Thanks, I'll check it out
Justin Murphy
You're a top lad. I think I'll just dive into Ka and Kasch. I will probably need (or hopefully want) to re-read them in a few years when I am able to more thoroughly appreciate or understand them, nothing wrong with that
Juan Anderson
Bump
Levi Fisher
>In the years between 1933 and 1945 the world made a partially successful attempt at self-destruction. What came after was shapeless, rough, and overpowerful. In this new millennium, it is shapeless, rough, and ever more powerful. Elusive in every single aspect, the opposite of the world that Hegel had sought to grasp with the tongs of concept. Even for scientists it is a shattered world. It has no style of its own but uses every style.
>This state of things may even seem exciting. But it excites only sectarians, convinced that they hold the key to what is going on. The others—most—have to adapt. They follow the advertising. Taoist fluidity is the least common virtue. One is continually assailed by the contours of an object that nobody has ever managed to see in its entirety. This is the normal world.
>The Age of Anxiety was the title W. H. Auden gave to a long poem for several voices, set in a New York bar toward the end of World War II. Today those voices sound remote, as though they came from another valley. There’s no shortage of anxiety but it no longer prevails. What prevails is a ubiquitous lack of substance, a deadly insubstantiality. It is the age of the insubstantial.
So far pretty good.
Isaac Jenkins
>In the latest stage of its formation, Islamic terrorism coincides with the spread of online pornography in the 1990s. What had always been dreamt of and desired was suddenly there to be seen, easily and always available. At the same time it tore away the whole structure of their rules relating to sex. If that negation was possible, everything had to be possible. The secular world had invaded their mind with something irresistible, which attracted them and at the same time mocked and undermined them. Without the use of weapons—and, moreover, without assuming or needing the presence of meaning. But they would go further. And beyond sex, there is only death. A death stamped with meaning.
Jose Miller
I remember an user posting excerpts from him before
Connor Sanchez
Bentley Gray
What's the best reading order?
Evan Hill
Chronologically
Eli Stewart
i dont get it
Evan Rogers
Nice
Hudson Evans
He writes in the order he wants his books to be read. Any one of his books is going to be beyond the scope of anyone except Calasso, so just jump in and don’t worry about it too much
Dylan Walker
>smite me from this earth
I'd love to.
Eli Fisher
Interested. 13 pages into TUP and it’s so-so with the social theory.
Where exactly does one find this Girard podcast?
Ayden Lopez
It sounds like a big deal (and I don't want to diminish the accomplishment) but four of those are closely related and all of them are Indo-European. At their roots they are actually quite similar and understanding one helps with another.
t. have studied Spanish, French, German, Latin and Greek.
Grayson Lee
forgingploughshares.org
is probably good enough. I can't find the podcast
Ethan Young
I don't think it's necessary to read all the earlier works to get the last one and each book can be read on its own.
But I would still suggest to read him in chronological order, that is, in the order in which the books were published - especially because most of his works are revolving around similar themes, and the Ruin of Kasch really sets what I think is the core of those books.
Logan Anderson
that cover is fucking gorgeous.
Parker Cooper
That publisher has a really fantastic selection of books. Beautiful designs