The Hedgehog And The Fox

ebook / ISBN-13: 9781780223070

Price: £8.99

ON SALE: 29th December 2011

Genre: Literature & Literary Studies

Disclosure: If you buy products using the retailer buttons above, we may earn a commission from the retailers you visit.

Isaiah Berlin’s classic essay on Tolstoy – an exciting new edition with new criticism and a foreword.

‘The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.’ This fragment of Archilochus, which gives this book its title, describes the central thesis of Isaiah Berlin’s masterly essay on Tolstoy. There have been various interpretations of Archilochus’ fragment; Isaiah Berlin has simply used it, without implying anything about the true meaning of the words, to outline a fundamental distinction that exists in mankind, between those who are fascinated by the infinite variety of things (foxes) and those who relate everything to a central all-embracing system (hedgehogs). When applied to Tolstoy, the image illuminates a paradox of his philosophy of history, and shows why he was frequently misunderstood by his contemporaries and critics. Tolstoy was by nature a fox, but he believed in being a hedgehog.

What's Inside

Read More Read Less

Reviews

[Berlin] has a deep and subtle feeling for the puzzle of Tolstoy's personality, and he writes throughout ... with a wonderful eloquence
NEW YORK TIMES
The most important study of Tolstoy's thought written in English for a long time
THE LISTENER
Delightful to read
SUNDAY TIMES
Berlin's stunning command of the resources of scholarship, his sensitivity to literature and to character, and his eloquence as a writer give this essay the lustre of a virtuoso performance
ATLANTIC
Brilliant ... searching and profound
TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT
The argument is ingenious and subtle, full of overtones - exactly what good critical writing should be
GUARDIAN
Very readable, with a lively honed down style
SUNDAY MERCURY
This little book is so entertaining, as well as acute, that the reader hardly notices that it is learned too
OBSERVER
Beautifully written and suggestive
W H Auden, NEW YORKER