The impression we get after going through these almost six hundred pages of Schopenhauer’s biography signed by David Cartwright is just one: Schopenhauer is an authentic philosopher. This can be seen because, for anyone familiar with Schopenhauer’s work, his biography holds no surprises, which is tantamount to saying that his life was consistent with his philosophy or, rather, that his philosophy was real. To measure the difficulty, and perhaps the greatness of this feat, it is enough to compare it to the abundant miseries described by Paul Johnson in the lives of his intellectuals. In Schopenhauer, we see a personality engraved in every act, in every reaction; we see a man who, despite what can be said about him, neither betrayed nor falsified himself. Such integrity, which is extremely rare, deserves the highest recognition.
It Is Really a Miracle That Which…
It is really a miracle that which is often observed in the construction of poems, when sometimes a single word is changed, this or that edge is trimmed, and a dull, repetitive, banal whole changes character as if completely, and the expression, previously frustrated, finally seems to satisfy the initial intention. The lesson of this experience is that the poet must continue at times when the creation is unsatisfactory, he must strive to give the poem at least a cohesive structure, a fundamental structure so that the brilliant and sometimes unexpected details can stand out.
Good Literature Always Has…
Good literature always has an instructive character, even if it is veiled, which allows the reader to grow through reading. That is why it is good for the writer to ask how much a hypothetical reader would gain from reading what he intends to write: depending on the answer, perhaps it would be better to look for other ideas, more convincing, more realistic, less selfish and more individual. Because this is exactly what becomes evident when this exercise is practiced: the best ideas, the ones that will most easily add something to the reader’s experience, are those that are more particular, those that are more intensely lived and more deeply assimilated. In short: one can only teach well what one knows well.
It Is Good to Get Rid of This Habit…
It is good to get rid of this habit of admiring with restrictions, which is practically not admiring at all. Genuine admiration ends the compliment with a period. But doing so is really hard because, disregarding vanity, it is really hard to get the eyes used to focusing on what is good. When one does not learn to do this, one gets an ever more or less bitter taste from everything, and finally does not enjoy the uplifting character of true admiration.