Reviews for German Mysticism from Hildegard of Bingen to Ludwig Wittgenstein A Literary and Intellectual...

The average rating for German Mysticism from Hildegard of Bingen to Ludwig Wittgenstein A Literary and Intellectual... based on 2 reviews is 1.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2010-11-11 00:00:00 Jeff Walker So, this book. It's just not very good. For one, Weeks isn't a particularly compelling narrator/storyteller (whatever you want to call him): as a companion to history, he's not that interesting, he doesn't make you feel interested in the world he explores. Admittedly, this is an academic book, not a popular or literary one, so "interesting" is less of a priority - and maybe Weeks is great in the classroom and just not good on paper? IDK, IDK, IDK. But I didn't want to spend time with him and there was no urgency to reading this. Also, there's something off about the writing, stylistically. Like, there are these little asides where he's kind of coy or disingenuous or snide, and I felt a little like: dude, this is your project, if you're not interested enough to be excited about it, then why should we? Those bits don't add anything to the discussion, they don't even add anything to his personality! So, that's a point against it. Historically, I guess Weeks is okay, and he is okay on the "strictly" religious aspects, too. He has a bad habit of agreeing with everybody until someone critical of them shows up, so then it's a bit confusing and difficult to know who to take seriously. (Although, this is a book about mysticism, soooo.) And he's not very good at mixing the historical background with the academic jargon or with the concepts; it's a bit like playing leap frog or something. Philosophically . . . well, his philosophy is very shallow, let's say (he thinks Schopenhauer is neglected! even in the 90s I don't think Schopenhauer was neglected! except possibly by his parents?). The existentialist terminology in the introduction made me excited, because WHOO IMMANENCE AND TRANSCENDENCE FTW but ugh, he doesn't follow through with them at all.

Review # 2 was written on 2012-10-07 00:00:00 Ross Mccuistion I had great hopes for this, but it's really badly written. The best thing about it is the illustration on the cover!