Satisfying My Book Itch

“To be oblivious of the past, to turn our backs on it, has the effect we are witnessing today, namely, that human beings are becoming barbarians again.” ~ What is Knowledge? by José Ortega y Gasset, p.193 [*]

On one of our editorial team’s semi-regular conference calls to discuss upcoming projects, we got sidetracked (as we are wont to do) and talked about a wide range of topics, including (but not limited to) ancient Rome, modern politics, and the German Conservative Revolution, which took up most of our time. Far from being exclusively German, thinkers aligned with the political-philosophical movement could be found in other parts of Europe as well. Some of the names bandied about were Vilfredo Pareto (1848-1923), Giovanni Gentile (1875-1944), and José Ortega y Gasset (1883-1955). Debating their relevance to the movement (if relevant at all—I wouldn’t include Gentile), we naturally got little in the way of work accomplished, though we had a good time.

José Ortega y Gasset

Reflecting on our conversation the next morning, I decided to go to my favorite used book store to see what I could find by José Ortega y Gasset. As a teen, I was influenced by his The Revolt of the Masses (1929) and sometime later, What is Knowledge? (1934). I haven't read much more since and wanted to change that. Occasionally, I go through these obsessive phases where I take a deep dive into certain authors and read as much as I can by them. I’ve done this in the past with E.M. Cioran (1911-1995), Ernst Jünger (1895-1998), and most recently with the Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa (1888-1935). I feel that compulsive urge brewing again, this time for Ortega.

Hitting the jackpot, I walked away from the bookshop with inexpensive beat-up copies of The Dehumanization of Art and Other Essays on Art, Culture, and Literature (1972), Velazquez, Goya, and The Dehumanization of Art (1972), and Meditations on Hunting (1942). Considering how prolific the great Spanish philosopher and essayist was, this small sampling will have to keep me content for the time being.

I know I once wrote that “I’m not a bibliomaniac” and that I don’t “suffer from some obsessive-compulsive disorder,” [See My Book Dilemma and Other First World Problems] but seeing how intent I was in getting a new book (even though I have so many I haven’t gotten to yet) I’m beginning to think that I may have a problem.

~ Giovanni di Napoli, March 25th, Feast of the Annunciation

Notes:
[*] Little to do with this anecdote, the epigraph is just a ponderable quote I found highlighted in my copy of What is Knowledge? and I thought it worth posting.