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Monday, March 16, 2015

Literary Movement Reading Challenge 2015: March Enlightenment Check-In



It’s the Ides of March! Usually it might bring your imagination to the Roman general: Julius Caesar; but this year it only means one thing: check-in time for March Enlightenment for our #LitMoveRC. To submit your reviews or posts on Enlightenment literature, you can go to the related page to find the linky, which will be open until April 15th. The Ides of March also means that the linky for February Renaissance has been closed.

Now I am a bit curious…

  • Enlightenment was the era of some great philosophers such as Descartes, Kant, Locke, Spinoza, Hume, Rousseau, etc. Have you read any works from these philosophers? What is/are your recommendation?
  • Or if you aren’t interested in them, what will you read for Enlightenment movement?


I haven’t read any of those philosophers, but have a slight interest in Descartes’ Discourse on Method. Maybe I’ll begin with him. But it will have to wait for two or more years…. Meanwhile, I have finished Goethe’s The Sorrows of Young Werther for Enlightenment; it was amazing! Reading Goethe’s commentary on this book only convinced me of his genius. The second book I am reading now is Gulliver’s Travels.

What about you?


10 comments:

  1. I've been reading a lot of poetry from this period but will be reading The Sorrows of Young Werther as well! Your high praise for it has gotten me hyped.

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    1. I hope you'll love Werther, although I think it's a bit Romantic.

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  2. I just finished Goethe's Faust (part I only) and am thinking I'll read Pope's Essay on Man as well.

    I've read some Locke, but not any of those other big names you list. :)

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    1. By part one I assume you read A-text? I think you should read the B-text as well if you have time; it's more interesting than A-text.

      What do you think about Locke?

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    2. I'm not sure what you mean by A and B text! :) Do you mean the different versions he wrote over the years? I read Part One, which he started young and re-wrote some times; I believe my copy is the last version. Then as an elderly man he wrote Part Two, which I don't have, though I could probably get it from the library easily enough. Perhaps I will.

      Here is my post on the Locke essay I read last year: http://howlingfrog.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-second-treatise-on-government.html

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  3. I am reading Rousseau's Confessions now, and it is lengthy. He was charming as a young man trying to find his way in the world; but now he is an adult of 30+ years, and some of his personal decisions are starting to spoil my opinion of him. Nonetheless, his writing style is extremely pleasant and enjoyable.

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    1. Hmm... I have been thinking of reading Rousseau too. Maybe I'd put him next on my philosophy reading list. Thanks for the recommendation.

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  4. I've been reading Diderot - Rameau's Nephew and D'Alembert's Dream, and I'm just about to finish Voltaire's Letters on England. It's been a tough month, but I've learned a lot :)

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    1. Wow...you've been working very hard! I've only finished Goethe, and is halfway through Gulliver's Travels.

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  5. Hi Fanda,

    I finished Diderot's "Jacques the Fatalist", "Gulliver's Travels", and I'm reading now "Robinson Crusoe", and I intend, if possible, to read "The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia" by Samuel Johnson. I also wish to read Rousseau's "Confessions" and Diderot's "Rameau's Nephew" and "D'Alembert's Dream", but I'll need time (I have them on the shelf for years). I read Goethe's "The Sorrows of Young Werther", "Elective Affinities", and "Faust 1".. Great works indeed.

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What do you think?