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Fact And Fiction

3.62 of 5 stars 3.62 · rating details · 13 ratings · 2 reviews

First published in 1961, Fact and Fiction is a collection of Bertrand Russell s essays that reflect on the books and writings that influenced his life, including fiction, essays on politics and education, divertissements and parables. Also broaching on the highly controversial issues of war and peace, it is in this classic collection that Russell states some of his most fa...more

Paperback, 304 pages

Published August 19th 2009 by Routledge (first published November 1st 1994)

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Aug 08, 2012 umberto rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: philosophy

Reading this four-part book by Russell is worth spending our time if we find his views inspiring. As for me, I found Part I Books that Inflence Me in Youth most interesting since, from its six chapters, he's revealed what kinds of books he read and his favourite authors, for example, Shelly, Milton, Turgenev, Ibsen, Carlyle, Shakespeare, Swift, and Gibbon.

Therefore, let me quote three excerpts for you:

1. SHELLY: ... I loved Shelly for his rhythm as much for his sentiment. It was not only Shelly'...more Reading this four-part book by Russell is worth spending our time if we find his views inspiring. As for me, I found Part I Books that Inflence Me in Youth most interesting since, from its six chapters, he's revealed what kinds of books he read and his favourite authors, for example, Shelly, Milton, Turgenev, Ibsen, Carlyle, Shakespeare, Swift, and Gibbon.

Therefore, let me quote three excerpts for you:

1. SHELLY: ... I loved Shelly for his rhythm as much for his sentiment. It was not only Shelly's despairs that I liked among his sentiments but also his apocalyptic hopes. The vision of a world suddenly transformed when 'the banded anarchs fled' entranced me, and I was enraptured by the chorus at the end of Hellas, ... (p. 7)

2. SWIFT: ...Among the tomes that I took down from the shelves was an unexpurgated Swift. I read first The Tale of a Tub, which delighted me because it treated theological controversies with a flippancy of which nowadays not even the most arrant free-thinker would dare to be guilty. ... (p. 23)

3. GIBBON: ... Gibbon has many merits in my eyes, both great and small. To begin with the minor merits, his narrative was interesting, his jokes were amusing, and his characters were often very queer. ...
To come to more important matters, I was immensely interested by his account of oecumenical councils and theological disputes from the time of Constantine to the time of Justinian. ... (p. 30)

Moreover, I also found this statement by Swift for a budding philospher illuminating: 'Where there is much desire to learn, there of necessity will be much arguing, much writing, many opinions; for opinion in good men is but knowledge in the making.' (p. 26) Why? Is there any light when we encounter this simple message from such a great author? I think the word 'opinion' is the key for anyone curious of learning to achieve his/her scholarship since it's one of the vital means to knowledge. In other words, we simply can't acquire knowledge unless we keep arguing, writing and expressing opinions. This statement also signifies the essential transformative process in creating knowledge by means of sharing reasons, exposition and ideas related to the point in question. Thus learning without opinions is futile, unimaginative and a waste of time.

ENDNOTE: I have my own respect and admiration to him because, as a true scholar/intellectual/philosopher, he did his best to serve the scholarly community all his life. One good point is that I've never read his vain self-praise anywhere. It's strange I've never come across this book so when I read its title in the Routledge website ($29.95) I thought I'd find one to read. So I was happy to buy this book on January 28, 2010 and would read any topics interesting to me one by one.(less)

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Dec 01, 2010 Kushal Srivastava rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: western-philosophy

Dated and harps on the same issue in every essay, though the theme would be agreeable to anyone sane.

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About Bertrand Russell

Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS, was a Welsh philosopher, historian, logician, mathematician, advocate for social reform, pacifist, and prominent rationalist. Although he was usually regarded as English, as he spent the majority of his life in England, he was born in Wales, where he also died.

He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1950 "in recognition of his var...more

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Books by Bertrand Russell

Why I Am Not a Christian and Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects

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