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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
A delight - Kenneth White's best book, 12 May 2003
I have been reading Kenneth White off and on for more than a decade, mainly the essays, because his diagnosis of the spiritual ills of modern life is so acute. Nonetheless, I have found his previous works too often irritating, mainly due to excessive pretentiousness and self-advertisement. With this latest book, White seems to have put all this behind him, and attained a charming, mellow, even self-deprecating style. White�s big subject is still there (the alienation of modern man) and so are the big ideas and wide-ranging erudition. But instead of arguing, as in previous books, in terms of public philosophical and poetic solutions; White seems to be showing us his individual practical response to the situation. In particular, how he has created a meaningful life in partnership with his wife, based around a cottage in Brittany. This is done deftly, honestly, and with considerable humour. The book was mildly flawed by ending with some chapters on traveling in Britain and Ireland, which disrupted its unity and were marked by a return of the earlier and less likable style. But my main feeling is one of hope that White may go on to write more works in this vein - a prospect I anticipate with considerable pleasure.
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