The Ring of Truth: The Wisdom of Wagner's Ring of the Nibelung [Oct 25, 2016] Scruton, Roger - Hardcover

Scruton, Roger

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0241188555 ISBN 13: 9780241188552

Publisher: Allen Lane, 2016

Synopsis

Ring of Truth

About this title

About the Author

Roger Scruton is a writer and philosopher who has held positions at the universities of London, Oxford, Boston and St Andrews and who has written widely on art, architecture, music and aesthetics. His books include his now classic Short History of Modern Philosophy (1981), The Aesthetics of Music (1997), Death-Devoted Heart: Sex and the Sacred in Wagner's Tristan and Isolde (2004), Fools, Frauds and Firebrands (1985, republished 2015) an examination of the New Left and its influence on intellectual life in Europe and America. He is a fellow of the British Academy and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Review

After reading this book, only the most unadventurous reader would turn down the chance to see Wagner's masterpiece. * Economist * A brilliant gallop through the master's religious, musical and philosophical contexts -- Sue Prideaux * Spectator * Roger Scruton is in many ways the ideal interpreter of the Ring ... His book is no mere dispassionate analysis of a cultural phenomenon, but a deeply felt rallying call for the view of humanity and its place in the cosmos that Scruton sees as embodied in the Ring. ... Scruton brilliantly teases out the connections between the conception of the Ring and the idealist philosophy of writers such as Hegel, in whose work Wagner was steeped [and] analyses fascinatingly and convincingly how Wagner's drama embodies, in its twists and turns, the Hegelian struggle, the "dialectic", between matter and spirit, power and freedom. -- Adam Lively * The Sunday Times * Highly original and penetrating ... he writes about the music authoritatively but comprehensibly... lucidly, cogently and even entertainingly... [Scruton] brings a philosopher's toolkit to the task of reaching the heart of what he sees as an essentially philosophical work. ... After reading tremendous homage to Wagner, not everyone will agree that The Ring of the Nibelung deserves to be called 'The Ring of Truth', but very few will deny that it contains a great deal of wisdom. -- Tim Blanning * Literary Review * Admirably lucid ... a perceptive and detailed account ... constantly enlightening commentary -- Lucy Beckett * Tablet *

About this edition

• Publisher: Allen Lane
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0241188555
• ISBN 13: 9780241188552
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 368