Transcendence for Beginners

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.

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.

A lyrical work of philosophy that draws from the work of Spinoza, George Eliot, biographers, memoirists, and more to examine how wisdom and goodness are transmitted by individual human lives. Transcendence for Beginners is an innovative book about philosophy and life writing, exploring how each practice might complement the other and so contribute to a greater understanding of human existence. Reflecting on writers and thinkers from Europe and India--such as Benedict Spinoza and S ren Kierkegaard, Ramana Maharshi and Marcel Proust--Clare Carlisle examines how deep, genuine wisdom and goodness are transmitted by individual lives. She considers her own intertwined pursuits as a philosopher and a biographer, as well as her roles as a mother and a daughter. Animated by the spirit of inquiry and the desire to share its rewards, Transcendence for Beginners is a generous, enlivening work by one of today's most original thinkers.

A lyrical work of philosophy that draws from the work of Spinoza, George Eliot, biographers, memoirists, and more to examine how wisdom and goodness are transmitted by individual human lives. Transcendence for Beginners is an innovative book about philosophy and life writing, exploring how each practice might complement the other and so contribute to a greater understanding of human existence. Reflecting on writers and thinkers from Europe and India--such as Benedict Spinoza and S ren Kierkegaard, Ramana Maharshi and Marcel Proust--Clare Carlisle examines how deep, genuine wisdom and goodness are transmitted by individual lives. She considers her own intertwined pursuits as a philosopher and a biographer, as well as her roles as a mother and a daughter. Animated by the spirit of inquiry and the desire to share its rewards, Transcendence for Beginners is a generous, enlivening work by one of today's most original thinkers.