Marek reviewed Magnificent Rebels by Andrea Wulf
Appropriately magnificent
5 stars
I found Wulf's biography of Alexander von Humboldt something of a revelation, and certainly inspirational.
Humboldt, as well as his brother Wilhelm, is a supporting character in this work, which is a biography of a group Wulf calls the "Jena Set" - philosophers, poets, writers, and scientists who lived and worked together in Jena in Saxe-Weimar in the late 1790s. During that brief but intense period their work gave rise to the Romantic movement that has contributed flavour to, if not wholly shaped almost every aspect of Western thinking and experience since.
Vibrant, unconventional, counter-cultural figures during revolutionary upheaval in Europe, the group are complex, fascinating, inspiring, sometimes frustrating and occasionally contemptible.
The philosophy of 'always becoming', unity with nature, but always arising and being shaped by individual experience and personal freedom, is expressed in every aspect of the writing and the group's life. The membership of the group is …
I found Wulf's biography of Alexander von Humboldt something of a revelation, and certainly inspirational.
Humboldt, as well as his brother Wilhelm, is a supporting character in this work, which is a biography of a group Wulf calls the "Jena Set" - philosophers, poets, writers, and scientists who lived and worked together in Jena in Saxe-Weimar in the late 1790s. During that brief but intense period their work gave rise to the Romantic movement that has contributed flavour to, if not wholly shaped almost every aspect of Western thinking and experience since.
Vibrant, unconventional, counter-cultural figures during revolutionary upheaval in Europe, the group are complex, fascinating, inspiring, sometimes frustrating and occasionally contemptible.
The philosophy of 'always becoming', unity with nature, but always arising and being shaped by individual experience and personal freedom, is expressed in every aspect of the writing and the group's life. The membership of the group is continually changing, the specifics of their thinking in constant flux, the relationship to their world - Jena's geography, values, and social scene - integral to the group's existence and dynamics.
In the reading of it, it takes a little bit of time to get going, but Wulf's brilliance is manifested for me as I've just finished it, and I'm currently grieving for the circle of friends, and for Jena.