Overview

In Transcendence for Beginners, Clare Carlisle 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, 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.

Full Product Details

9781804271957

Table of Contents

Reviews

‘Clare Carlisle's The Marriage Question is the best book I've read on George Eliot.’ — John Carey, Sunday Times (praise for The Marriage Question) ‘Finally, Eliot has got the biographer she deserves, namely an ardent and eloquent feminist philosopher who shows us how and why Eliot's books, rightly read, are as philosophically profound as any treatise written by a man.’ — Stuart Jeffries, Observer (praise for The Marriage Question) ‘The Marriage Question already has the stamp of a classic and is bound to enter the canon of great biographies. I was amazed by the clarity of Clare Carlisle's language; she deals with the most complex ideas with miraculous ease. It was a delight to read while at the same time being deeply thought-provoking. I'm already looking forward to reading this magnificent book again.’ — Celia Paul, author of Letters to Gwen John (praise for The Marriage Question) ‘This book manages to be both engrossing and rigorous, inhabiting an intimate and expansive vision of creativity and the lived life. Following the pulsing and ever-vital questions of love, desire, compromise and companionship, The Marriage Question is both a thrilling work on Eliot and a probing, illuminating reflection on modern love.’ — Seán Hewitt, author of All Down Darkness Wide (praise for The Marriage Question) ‘Philosopher of the Heart enacts Kierkegaard's audacity and verve in thinking and writing, his “new way of doing philosophy”, in a thrillingly inward and intimate style.’ — Boyd Tonkin, Arts Desk (praise for Philosopher of the Heart) ‘Superb ... the sort of biography Kierkegaard himself might have written.’ — David Mason, The Hudson Review (praise for Philosopher of the Heart) ‘This lucid and riveting new biography at once rescues Kierkegaard from the scholars and makes it abundantly clear why he is such an intriguing and useful figure.’ — Adam Phillips, Observer (praise for Philosopher of the Heart)

'Finally, Eliot has got the biographer she deserves, namely an ardent and eloquent feminist philosopher who shows us how and why Eliot's books, rightly read, are as philosophically profound as any treatise written by a man.' - Stuart Jeffries, Observer 'Clare Carlisle's The Marriage Question is the best book I've read on George Eliot.' - John Carey, Sunday Times 'Eloquent and original ... [Carlisle] combines a biographer's eye for stories with a philosopher's nose for questions.... Masterly and enriching.... The deal historian [of marriage] will need great tact and an impious curiosity. Carlisle has both.' - James Wood, New Yorker 'In this thrilling book, the academic philosopher Clare Carlisle explores the novelist's interrogation of ""the double life"", meaning not only Eliot's own 25 years of unsanctioned coupledom with Lewes, but also the difficult love relationships she unleashed on her heroines.... Carlisle speaks of wanting to employ biography as philosophical inquiry and here she succeeds magnificently. With great skill and delicacy she has filleted details from Eliot's own life, read closely into her wonderful novels and, most importantly, considered the wider philosophical background in which she was operating.' - Kathryn Hughes, Guardian

Author Information

Clare Carlisle is Professor of Philosophy at King's College London, and the author of eight books on philosophy and philosophers, including Philosopher of the Heart: The Restless Life of Søren Kierkegaard and most recently The Marriage Question: George Eliot's Double Life. She grew up in Manchester, studied Philosophy and Theology at Trinity College, Cambridge, and now lives in East London.

Tab Content 6

Countries Available