Lionel Trilling on Man: Stories of Genius

Author: A. de Jongh
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-08-01
Features: This book is a collection of biographical essays written by A. de Jongh, comprising 30 chapters. In these pieces, the author selects representative figures from different historical periods around the world, adopting a humanistic stance to introduce and evaluate their thoughts, desires, and actions. Among these figures are Eastern and Western philosophers and great thinkers such as Confucius, Plato, Descartes, Erasmus, and Thomas More; immortal literary masters like Dante, Shakespeare, Hans Christian Andersen, Cervantes, Rabelais, Molière, and Emerson;、 such as Leonardo da Vinci, Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, and Chopin; the renowned Peter the Great of Russia, Queen Elizabeth of England, and George Washington, the founding father of the United States; and legendary explorers such as Fridtjof Nansen, Herman Weyher, and William Barents, among others. In the face of these numerous figures, A. de Jongh, with his unique sharp gaze, penetrates the, scrutinizing their lives and deeds. All monarchs and nobles, all sacred authorities, are stripped of their historical gloss in his writing, while one by one, the long-forgotten, uniquely individual characters, after shedding the dust of the ages, leap off the page with vivid personalities, ready for his critiques and comments.