Gardens: An Essay on the Human Condition

New
Illustrated
2008
$32.12

Humans have long turned to gardens - both real and imaginary - for sanctuary from the frenzy and tumult that surrounds them. With Gardens , Robert Pogue Harrison graces readers with a thoughtful, wide-ranging examination of the many ways gardens evoke the human condition. Moving from the gardens of ancient philosophers to the gardens of homeless people in contemporary New York, he shows how, again and again, the garden has served as a check against the destruction and losses of history. Alive with the echoes and arguments of Western thought, Gardens is a fitting continuation of the intellectual journeys of Harrison's earlier classics, Forests and The Dominion of the Dead . Voltaire famously urged us to cultivate our gardens; with this compelling volume, Harrison reminds us of the nature of that responsibility - and its enduring importance to humanity.

Synopsis

Humans have long turned to gardens - both real and imaginary - for sanctuary from the frenzy and tumult that surrounds them. With Gardens , Robert Pogue Harrison graces readers with a thoughtful, wide-ranging examination of the many ways gardens evoke the human condition. Moving from the gardens of ancient philosophers to the gardens of homeless people in contemporary New York, he shows how, again and again, the garden has served as a check against the destruction and losses of history. Alive with the echoes and arguments of Western thought, Gardens is a fitting continuation of the intellectual journeys of Harrison's earlier classics, Forests and The Dominion of the Dead . Voltaire famously urged us to cultivate our gardens; with this compelling volume, Harrison reminds us of the nature of that responsibility - and its enduring importance to humanity.

$32.12

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More Information

Format: Illustrated
Pages: 256
Edition: Illustrated
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Published: 25 Apr 2008
ISBN 10: 0226317897
ISBN 13: 9780226317892

Media Reviews

I find myself completely besotted by a new book titled Gardens. The author... is one of the very best cultural critics at work today. He is a man of deep learning, immense generosity of spirit, passionate curiosity, and manifold rhetorical gifts. - Julia Keller, Chicago Tribune Mr. Harrison has planted his own garden of beautiful quotations and provocative speculation, and it is an absorbing and stimulating place to spend time. - Jonathan Rosen, Wall Street Journal This book is about gardens as a metaphor for the human condition.... Harrison draws freely and with brilliance from 5,000 years of Western literature and criticism, including works on philosophy and garden history.... He is a careful as well as an inspiring scholar. - Tom Turner, Times Higher Education The year's most thought-provoking, original, and weighty garden book is Gardens.... Reading Harrison's book is like strolling down a path through a well-cultivated, richly sown, light-dappled woodland.... Just as in the making of a garden, there's no end to the wonder; the journey is everything. - New York Times Book Review

Author Bio

Robert Pogue Harrison is the Rosina Pierotti Professor of Italian Literature at Stanford University. He is the author of four books, including Forests: The Shadow of Civilization and The Dominion of the Dead, both published by the University of Chicago Press.