History, Guilt, and Habit
2014; Mythopoeic Society; Volume: 33; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
0146-9339
Autores Tópico(s)Themes in Literature Analysis
ResumoHISTORY, Guilt, AND Habit. Owen Barfield. Oxford: Barfield Press, 2012. 98 p. 978-0-9569423-2-6. $18.99. THIS BOOK CONTAINS THREE LECTURES DELIVERED in October 1978, two at the University of British Columbia and one at the Vancouver Institute. The overall book title refers briefly to the titles of the three lectures, which are: 1) History of ideas: evolution of consciousness, 2) Modern idolatry: the sin of literalness, and 3) The force of habit. These essays were first published in 1979 by Wesleyan University Press, and this is a second, augmented edition. In addition, although this is not indicated on the title page put does appear on the book cover, the essay Evolution first published in the journal Towards (2.2, Spring 1982) is published here in an amended version given as a lecture at California State University, Fullerton by Barfield in February 1980. The three Vancouver lectures were delivered on separate days, and the author indicates that #1 and #2 were actually reversed in their order of delivery. Barfield has always had a unique style of delivery in his books and lectures, one that often circles around meanings, tangents, and examples which sometimes loses the reader and listener in understanding exactly what it is Barfield is trying to say. Before I describe what message Barfield is explaining in these lectures, I want to mention two other resources that I have found essential in deciphering and summarizing Barfield's philosophy. The first is Verlyn Flieger's Splintered Light: Logos and Language in Tolkien's World (revised ed., Kent State University Press, 2002). Flieger has explained Tolkien's interest and knowledge of Barfield's concept of ancient semantic unity first documented in Barfield's Poetic Diction (1928). For Barfield, language, myth, and humanity's perception of the world are inseparable and intricately linked; this fascinated Tolkien enough that Flieger is able to document the splintering of both language and light in Tolkien's mythology and throughout Middle-earth's history. Words are expressed myth for Barfield, and while Tolkien never embraced Barfield's leanings towards Anthroposophy and Rudolf Steiner's metaphysical philosophy, Tolkien the philologist and mythmaker and medievalist was very fascinated with the links between language and myth; Flieger does an excellent job of researching the decay of the Elvish language and of light itself in Tolkien's legendarium. The second resource is R.J. Reilly's Romantic Religion: A Study of Owen Barfield, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and J.R.R. Tolkien (Lindisfarne Books, 2006). This is a reissue of the same book published in 1971, with a new preface and foreword. The chapter on Barfield is the most understandable and insightful summary on the man and his work that is available. Reilly goes step-by-step through Barfield's publications, his interest in Steiner and Anthroposophy, and is the most user-friendly and approachable explanation that I know of Barfield and his work; that said, the author states in the foreword that Barfield read through the book before its publication and provided him with numerous suggestions and improvements; in other words, one can infer that Reilly's chapter on Barfield comes with Barfield's approval. …
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