First and Last Things by Richard Hoggart

by Richard Hoggart

Into a world where it has become fashionable to believe that any worries we might have about the 'meaning of life' or our 'relationships' can be resolved by a quick fix from the latest bestseller on self-improvement, this book comes like a breath of fresh air. Richard Hoggart does not pretend to have any easy answers, but he is not afraid to address the big the problem (as he finds it) of faith; the mysterious origins of conscience and its impact upon our behaviour; the nature of society and class in an age of triumphal capitalism; the importance of family and friends; the value of literature and, in conclusion, the nature of memory and the need, in old age, to find some value in existence. To the discussion of these and many other issues, the author brings a lifetime of rich experience and a mind well stocked with the best that has been written by those who have gone before. The result is a book that is introspective without being self-absorbed, that provokes thought but never preaches, that is profound without being portentous. Part meditation, part commonplace book, First and Last Things is a work that the young should read, if only to discover how much there is still to understand, and that the old will treasure.

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Babs]

There is a beauty in the thought that our constant sense of unfinishedness, of falling short, of being alienated from something other and better, is the best evidence we have that we are indeed fallen, cut off from something we endlessly regret losing.