Autobiography of Giambattista Vico

Rating:
Summary: THE LIFE OF AN AUTODIDACT
Review: "The Vico road goes round and round to meet where terms begin..." writes James Joyce in Finnegans Wake, whereas well, Vico appears as Mr. John Baptister Vickar. The opening page of FW has the hundred-lettered clap of Vico's all initiating thunder, which recurs at intervals. Vico's ideas have permeated the consciousness of everyday thought, having been placed there by Karl Marx, James Joyce, Marshall McLuhan, and Joseph Campbell to name a notable few.

It is an honest account of a life lived ex-centric. His insights into the history of civilization were (and still are) a far cry from Orthodox historical exegesis, and he paid a great personal price to develop and hold them. However, there is an enthusiasm and vitality that exudes from his stated ideas, and this book serves as a firm stepping stone into the thought expressed in his New Science.

The introduction by the translators helps establish a context for Vico and his New Science, and establishes Vico as one of the first to write an autobiography, an art from that didn't have a formal name at that time.

If you are interested in this book, you likely came here from Joyce or McLuhan to drink from their source. If not, I would like to know what other paths lead to Vico, and an email to me would be appreciated as to the commodius vicas of recirculation back to Vico.

Budd Poston

Rating:
Summary: VICO UPDATE
Review: Thanks to those who have emailed me about Vico.

To date there have been five responses to my previously posted request. (above)

1) A reader from Mexico read about Vico in a history of Philosophy.

2) A reader from Israel read about Vico in a book by Moshe Barasch, Modern Theories of Art, 1. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0814710611/

3) A reader from England read about Vico in the works the philosopher Isaiah Berlin.

4) A Beckett scholar from Texas found Vico through Beckett, a protégé of Joyce.

5) A reader from NYC found Vico through McLuhan.

Note the email address for those interested in responding about how they ... riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodious vicus of recirculation back to Vico.

And as note of Interest, I liked the book better the second time through. It's worth the time to read it. Hurry up and order it before they run out of copies.

bp