A major new translation of one of the an important philosophical work of the twentieth century, presenting Bergson's masterwork to a new generation of readers
This new translation improves enormously on the quality of the previous translation, the only one available since 1911
Includes a host of additional new features, many translated for the first time including a comprehensive table of contents; a translation glossary; letters and reviews by William James, Georges Canguilhelm and Gilles Deleuze; full scholarly notes to each chapter
Responses by Bergson to many of these, and many of which have been translated for the first time.
Translated by Donald Landes, whose translation of Phenomenology of Perception (Routledge 2011, 2013) has already achieved classic status.
Henri Bergson (1859-1941) was born in Paris, the year Darwin's Origin of Species was published. Initially drawn equally by the sciences and philosophy, at the age of eighteen Bergson won a prestigious prize for solving a mathematical problem. Choosing philosophy, he attended the Ecole Normale Superieure and the University of Paris before working as a school teacher in Angers and Clermont-Ferrand while completing his doctorate at the University of Paris in 1889. He worked for eight years at the Lycee Henri-IV before taking a position as Chair of Greek and Roman Philosophy at the College de France in Paris 1900. His weekly lectures soon attracted beyond capacity crowds, and his visits abroad to England and the United States filled venues and reportedly caused the first-ever traffic jam on Broadway in New York City. Bergson engaged with some of the leading contemporary thinkers, including a famous debate with Einstein in 1922 over the nature of time. He influenced Marcel Proust, Thomas Mann, and the philosopher William James, and was a pioneering figure in the Modernist intellectual movement of the early twentieth century.
Title: Creative Evolution
Author:
ISBN: 9781138689251
Binding:
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
Publication Date: 2022-12-01
Number of Pages: 624
Weight: 1.2387 kg
I have been re-reading Bergson's books, and nothing that I have read for years has so excited and stimulated my thoughts. I am sure that his philosophy has a great future; it breaks through old frameworks and brings things to a solution from which new crystallizations can be reached. - William James (1903)
This new translation by Donald Landes captures the mesmerizing work that turned Henri Bergson into one of the century's most provocative thinkers-with expert annotations, correspondence and additional material by influential thinkers from William James to Gilles Deleuze. - Jimena Canales, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA
Henri Bergson, who personally oversaw the translation of all his books into English, would be delighted by this new edition of his greatest work. Donald Landes's translation is exquisite and the extensive editorial notes are indispensable for the serious study of Creative Evolution. - Alexandre Lefebvre, University of Sydney, Australia
This splendid new translation provides an exceptional, scholarly tool for serious specialists as well as all readers interested in Bergson's work. It will swiftly become the definitive reference text for all Anglophone Bergson scholarship. - Christina Howells, University of Oxford, UK
A major event in post-Kantian philosophy. Featuring a lucid introduction, helpful translator's notes, and a judicious selection from Arnaud Francois's illuminating critical dossier, this fine translation of Creative Evolution means that English-language Bergson scholarship has begun to gain the serious editions of his texts that it deserves. - Mark Sinclair, Roehampton University, UK
This superb translation will introduce a new generation to Bergson. Landes's cogent introduction and editorial notes and the accompanying dossier of correspondence, reception and commentaries not only situates Creative Evolution in relation to Bergson's oeuvre, but also to the myriad scientific and philosophical sources informing his thought. An outstanding achievement. - Mark Antliff, Duke University, USA
This wonderful new translation of Bergson's classic Creative Evolution is warmly welcomed, as are the rich introduction, comprehensive editorial notes, and thoughtful selection of commentaries. There are many improvements to the original translation published over a century ago. - Emily Thomas, Durham University, UK
Creative Evolution is essential reading today. To translate it well requires a serious engagement with Bergson's entire body of work, sustained philosophical attention, a feel for context (including discoveries in thermodynamics) and, most importantly, enormous care. Happily, this is what Donald Landes offers us here. - Suzanne Guerlac, University of California, Berkeley, USA
