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The Art of Creation
Sometimes when one sees people going about shivering on a cold day... one thinks how good it would be for most of them just to strip then and there, and run, run till they were red hot-mastering the cold that way. -from "Health a Conquest" Bracingly convivial and full of a spunky energy, this early motivational book, first published in 1904, is a spiritual but nonreligious call to creative arms to explore the possibilities of human consciousness to conceive and invent and brings us up to our physical and intellectual potential. Poet and activist Carpenter traveled the 19th-century English countryside delivering enthusiastic lectures criticizing the social conventions of his time, some of which are included in this series of essays, and his cry to abandon the repressive habits that prevent us from being fully ourselves continues to ring true today. British writer EDWARD CARPENTER (1844-1929) was a dedicated social reformer and active in the late 19th-century Arts and Crafts movement. Educated at Cambridge, he is remembered for his unrhymed verse, including 1883's Towards Democracy. Among his works are Civilization: Its Cause and Cure, And Other Essays (1889) and Love's Coming of Age (1896).
280 pages, Paperback
Published November 1, 2005
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About the author
Edward Carpenter
393 books66 followersEdward Carpenter was an English socialist poet, socialist philosopher, anthologist, and early gay activist.
A leading figure in late 19th- and early 20th-century Britain, he was instrumental in the foundation of the Fabian Society and the Labour Party. A poet and writer, he was a close friend of Walt Whitman and Rabindranath Tagore, corresponding with many famous figures such as Annie Besant, Isadora Duncan, Havelock Ellis, Roger Fry, Mahatma Gandhi, James Keir Hardie, J. K. Kinney, Jack London, George Merrill, E D Morel, William Morris, E R Pease, John Ruskin, and Olive Schreiner.[1]
As a philosopher he is particularly known for his publication of Civilisation, Its Cause and Cure in which he proposes that civilisation is a form of disease that human societies pass through. Civilisations, he says, rarely last more than a thousand years before collapsing, and no society has ever passed through civilisation successfully. His 'cure' is a closer association with the land and greater development of our inner nature. Although derived from his experience of Hindu mysticism, and referred to as 'mystical socialism', his thoughts parallel those of several writers in the field of psychology and sociology at the start of the twentieth century, such as Boris Sidis, Sigmund Freud and Wilfred Trotter who all recognised that society puts ever increasing pressure on the individual that can result in mental and physical illnesses such as neurosis and the particular nervousness which was then described as neurasthenia.
A strong advocate of sexual freedom, living in a gay community near Sheffield, he had a profound influence on both D. H. Lawrence and E. M. Forster.
A leading figure in late 19th- and early 20th-century Britain, he was instrumental in the foundation of the Fabian Society and the Labour Party. A poet and writer, he was a close friend of Walt Whitman and Rabindranath Tagore, corresponding with many famous figures such as Annie Besant, Isadora Duncan, Havelock Ellis, Roger Fry, Mahatma Gandhi, James Keir Hardie, J. K. Kinney, Jack London, George Merrill, E D Morel, William Morris, E R Pease, John Ruskin, and Olive Schreiner.[1]
As a philosopher he is particularly known for his publication of Civilisation, Its Cause and Cure in which he proposes that civilisation is a form of disease that human societies pass through. Civilisations, he says, rarely last more than a thousand years before collapsing, and no society has ever passed through civilisation successfully. His 'cure' is a closer association with the land and greater development of our inner nature. Although derived from his experience of Hindu mysticism, and referred to as 'mystical socialism', his thoughts parallel those of several writers in the field of psychology and sociology at the start of the twentieth century, such as Boris Sidis, Sigmund Freud and Wilfred Trotter who all recognised that society puts ever increasing pressure on the individual that can result in mental and physical illnesses such as neurosis and the particular nervousness which was then described as neurasthenia.
A strong advocate of sexual freedom, living in a gay community near Sheffield, he had a profound influence on both D. H. Lawrence and E. M. Forster.
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February 29, 2016
The Art of Creation was a pleasant surprise. I was not sure what to expect, given Carpenters own creative and off-the-cuff lifestyle. However, the book was not only fun to read, but the logic was fun to follow too. The biggest issue is that it seems there is some fundamental force that he is wrestling with but unable to define. This leads to Carpenter twisting a few different words to mean the same undefinable force.
Other than the above problem. I love the way carpenter works with culturally evolved images and ideals, which he brings into play with religion ideology. Although, he himself may have been christian, i found his argument empowering from my own perspective, that of an atheist. I won't say anything else, but I strongly suggest this read.
Other than the above problem. I love the way carpenter works with culturally evolved images and ideals, which he brings into play with religion ideology. Although, he himself may have been christian, i found his argument empowering from my own perspective, that of an atheist. I won't say anything else, but I strongly suggest this read.
Displaying 1 of 1 review