Transcendence for Beginners

by Clare Carlisle

Transcendence for Beginners examines life writing and philosophy across certain European and Indian traditions, exploring questions of childhood and mortality, art and religion, beauty and loss. Informed by her experience as a biographer of Søren Kierkegaard and George Eliot as well as her own life, Clare Carlisle asks what one human existence can reveal, and how writing can transmit its truth. Intellectually stimulating and deeply moving, Transcendence for Beginners enacts a philosophy of the heart, told by a generous and compelling guide. This bold, enlivening work asserts Carlisle's place as one of our most innovative thinkers.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction

181 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 11, 2025

Reviews

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly, I will just never tire of hearing Clare Carlisle talk about Spinoza and Kierkegaard and George Eliot, or literally anything else

[Paul Narvaez · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this a rich and inviting book of reflections using examples from a broad section of cultural vantage points. She has an accessible style that welcomes you in... from Proust to Plato, from George Eliot to Baruch Spinoza. It's about finding a spirit of transcendence, hard to explain, but she has some good examples. She also looks back at her own formative experiences in the Himalayas and the insights she gained from it. It also has fueled my interest in reading the Spinoza biography I have coming up soon.

[Samantha Hastie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to Fitzcarraldo for the E-ARC. I had never read anything by this author previously but the subject matter really intrigued me and I was very pleasantly surprised. This is a philosophical take on life and looks at life through a number of different masks. The authors use of George Eliot's writing as a comparator to some of the historical philosophers positions was particularly interesting to me as a huge George Eliot fan. The descriptions of Indian pilgrimages and religious teachings was also incredibly well done. I could have read quite a few more chapters in all honesty. Will definitely look out for this author's work in future.

[Zhou]

被开头的故事深深吸引，但看到后面没有什么感触。可能没咋读过Kierkegaard, George Eliot, Proust, 跟Spinoza还不是beginner…

[Juliano · Rating 4 out of 5]

“And in writing as in life, linearity combines with complexity. On the one hand, the line of writing is unidirectional. It only moves forwards. On the other hand - yet at the same time - it loops, folds, gathers, knots, stitches itself together, forming layers. For example, a recurring metaphor, a rhyme, or a repeated word tacks one point in the line to another. Life shares this double character. It flows irrevocably in one direction: sooner or later (it's taken me many years) we learn that we cannot travel back in time. […] The line of writing, like the line of living, has an intermittent and rhythmic quality.” I really enjoyed Clare Carlisle’s Transcendence for Beginners, which is based on a series of lectures in which life writing is a jumping-off point to think about philosophy, transcendence, meaning-making and so on. Steeped in Carlisle’s own experience as a biographer of George Eliot and Søren Kierkegaard, as well as drawing from her own life, this is a beautifully probing work that renders thoughtful philosophising relatively accessible and human. Carlisle’s lectures are brimming with luminous insights into life and writing as well as life writing: “The best I can do, if I write, is try to write truthfully”; “Writing a life or painting a portrait only exhibits the gift of time, as precious as it is commonplace, that we offer one another every day. These gifts are a communion of souls.” I love what she has to say about devotion and grief: “Devotion and loss are two sides of the proverbial coin. They both express love. They are so deeply part of human experience that it is difficult to imagine a life lived without them.” And I really enjoyed a brief cameo from one of my favourite painters, Celia Paul: “These paintings, quiet yet full of feeling, document Paul's search for the truth of a human life - and they find beauty in this search, even when it involves loneliness, sadness and loss.”

[victoria marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dum curamus eum consequi, et operam damus, ut intellectum in rectam viam redigamus, necesse est vivere.

While we pursue this end, and devote ourselves to bringing the intellect back to the right path, it is necessary to live.
— Spinoza, Treatise on the Emendation of the Intellect

*

[reading the paperback fitz edition, not listed]

[Sophia Buck · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 - This is one of those books that you read and immediately know it will change the course of your life. My favourite kind of writing: clear, inquisitive and inviting.

[Huckfinn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A work of philosophy, rather than 'self-help' as narrowly defined in bookshops, and as the title would puckishly suggest. Ranging across Spinoza, Kierkegaard, George Eliot and non-Western traditions, this is a wonderful, compelling attempt to answer life's biggest questions. If you have been thinking (and feeling) along similar lines to the author, you will love it; if not, it will at least give you pause.