Ensayos. Interpretaciones y pronósticos

by Lewis Mumford

Ensayos (Interpretaciones y pronósticos) es el mejor ejemplo de la ambiciosa y poliédrica sabiduría de Lewis Mumford, y quizá uno de sus mejores libros. La literatura, la historia, el arte, la civilización, la guerra, los sueños... el hombre... la vida... La humanidad en su complejidad orgánica es objeto de atención, reflexión y juicio.

Esta antología, preparada por el propio Mumford -y nunca antes traducida al español-, recoge sus aportaciones esenciales al pensamiento contemporáneo. Y "resume" en una compacta colección de ensayos sus pensamientos a lo largo de medio siglo en todos los campos que tocó, con excepción del urbanismo y la arquitectura a los que dedicó otros volúmenes específicos.

Si bien es cierto que el pensamiento de Mumford cierra las puertas al optimismo simplista (le tocó descubrir la incipiente tiranía de la Máquina y convivió bajo el cetro amenazador del monarca tecnológico, la bomba atómica), su obra deja una puerta abierta a la esperanza; una esperanza fundamentada en las inagotables potencialidades humanas.

En este volumen, publicado originalmente en 1979, y que presentamos en traducción de Diego Luis Sanromán, Mumford reunió sus más notables estudios literarios, históricos, biográficos, tecnológicos y sobre la sociedad contemporánea. Cinco maravillosos libros titulados: "Horizontes del Nuevo Mundo", "Personalidad e historia", "El mito de la máquina", "Los errores de la "Civilización"" y "Las transformaciones del hombre".

Genres: History

856 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1973

About the author

Lewis Mumford (October 19, 1895 – January 26, 1990) was an American historian and philosopher of technology and science. Particularly noted for his study of cities and urban architecture, he had a tremendously broad career as a writer that also included a period as an influential literary critic. Mumford was influenced by the work of Scottish theorist Sir Patrick Geddes.

Reviews

[Artie Rubin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can think of no greater compliment to bestow on Lewis Mumford than the fact that Ayn Rand loathed him. The Randian villain Ellsworth Toohey of "The Fountainhead" is modeled on Mumford. I guess she couldn't find anything denigrating enough to rhyme with "Mumford" so she picked a name that would rhyme with "phooey."

(Subtlety was never Rand's strong suit I suspect that if she saw someone pushing someone else onto subway tracks when a train was approaching, she'd say to the pusher, "Can't you make your feelings clearer than
*that?*")

I think Rand's big gripe with Mumford is that he always valued human life far above mechanical life, no matter how materially profitable the results of the latter. Thus, where Rand saw skyscrapers as a glorious achievement of man, Mumford would see them as grinding *humans* into feelings of insignificance.

Many of the essays here deal with the reduction of human feelings and experiences for the sake of mechanical efficiency. Indeed, Mumford considered our American culture a culture of death (and this was many decades ago). But other essays in this book brilliantly reflect on historical figures, including Jesus.

So if you can still get into a reflective mode, despite all the high tech/media trying to eat you alive, and you like to think more deeply than a tweet, this is a treasure.

Fun Fact: Lewis Mumford has the same birthday as Divine.