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There Where You Are Not: Ludwig Wittgenstein
There Where You Are Not illuminates Wittgenstein's life-long search for his vocation, for his place in the world. A biographical collage by Michael Nedo, a photographic sketch by Guy Moreton, and a poetic album by Alec Finlay illustrate Wittgenstein's wanderings from Vienna to Cambridge via Berlin and Manchester, back to Austria, and finally back to Cambridge, as well as his search for a place to write in Norway and Ireland - a topography of Wittgenstein's life and work.
- GenresPhilosophy
160 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 31, 2025
A bit of an oddity, this book was, according to its acknowledgements page, originally planned to be a house: contributor Alec Finlay had wanted to build a replica of Wittgenstein's Norway cabin in rural England. Finlay brought in Guy Moreton to photograph the landscape in Skjolden for an accompanying book, and the pair eventually joined with Michael Nedo, editor of the Vienna Edition of Wittgenstein's manuscripts, to expand the project.
The house was apparently never built, but the book did come to fruition, and the biography that occupies the first 2/3rds of it is Nedo's contribution. Dividing Wittgenstein's life into eight chronological parts, each of these sections is led by 1-3 pages of biographical summary. Most people with enough interest in Wittgenstein to have picked up this book will probably already have read Monk and McGuiness, so these short, partial sketches will perhaps be superfluous, but in each section they are followed by several pages of quotations by Wittgenstein and those who knew him, as well as photographs and other items and documents from Wittgenstein's life. For me, these were by far the most worthwhile pages of the book, and many of the documents and photographs I had never seen before. Some, like the photograph of the handwritten title page to Wittgenstein's original Tractatus manuscript on page 33, give one the feeling of touching history, while others are genuinely affecting: page 75 shows us Wittgenstein's Cambridge planner opened to the date of of Francis Skinner's death; the entry for October 11th reads, "Francis dies," in Wittgenstein's hand. The rest of the page is blank.
Nedo's section is followed by 26 photographs of the barns, trees, and landscape around Skjolden, and a poem on Wittgenstein and Skjolden by Finlay closes the book. The last of Moreton's photographs, of the stone foundation to a vanished house overlooking a lake, is possibly of the site of Wittgenstein's cabin, but it is not labeled as such. Other than this, I did not find these photos or the poem of particular interest, though others might. The book has little to no engagement with Wittgenstein's thought in any of its sections, but the archive photographs and documents Nedo provides make for a nice supplement to the more substantial biographies available.
The house was apparently never built, but the book did come to fruition, and the biography that occupies the first 2/3rds of it is Nedo's contribution. Dividing Wittgenstein's life into eight chronological parts, each of these sections is led by 1-3 pages of biographical summary. Most people with enough interest in Wittgenstein to have picked up this book will probably already have read Monk and McGuiness, so these short, partial sketches will perhaps be superfluous, but in each section they are followed by several pages of quotations by Wittgenstein and those who knew him, as well as photographs and other items and documents from Wittgenstein's life. For me, these were by far the most worthwhile pages of the book, and many of the documents and photographs I had never seen before. Some, like the photograph of the handwritten title page to Wittgenstein's original Tractatus manuscript on page 33, give one the feeling of touching history, while others are genuinely affecting: page 75 shows us Wittgenstein's Cambridge planner opened to the date of of Francis Skinner's death; the entry for October 11th reads, "Francis dies," in Wittgenstein's hand. The rest of the page is blank.
Nedo's section is followed by 26 photographs of the barns, trees, and landscape around Skjolden, and a poem on Wittgenstein and Skjolden by Finlay closes the book. The last of Moreton's photographs, of the stone foundation to a vanished house overlooking a lake, is possibly of the site of Wittgenstein's cabin, but it is not labeled as such. Other than this, I did not find these photos or the poem of particular interest, though others might. The book has little to no engagement with Wittgenstein's thought in any of its sections, but the archive photographs and documents Nedo provides make for a nice supplement to the more substantial biographies available.
January 8, 2008
What a disappointment!! Despite being fairly pretty externally (the cover feels wonderful), this book sure ain't got much for substance. I've been fooled. A fairly superficial biography tracks Wittgenstein's movements from Vienna through England, Ireland, Norway, and the US, but does not really go into his personal life, is skimpy with the anecdotes, there is no critical assessment of his work- less detailed info than one might find on Wikipedia. But there are lots and lots of excerpts from letters (written by W and his colleagues and friends), his sister's memoirs, and various other writings by those that were involved in his life at some point or another. The excerpts more or less follow him around Europe for most of his life. It gives a reasonable idea of him as a fellow in the world, with no unnecessary psychologizing, but it is pretty spare. Almost half the book is recently taken pretty color photographs of his shack out in the Norwegian country and its surroundings. Then there are some poems and shit. I guess it is a "nice book" but not for reading. 2 Stars for being pretty and slightly entertaining.
December 27, 2008
As a stand alone guide to Wittgenstein and his work, this book will disappoint. However as a companion to his writings and to more thorough biographies available, it is invaluable. "There Where You Are Not" contains only the briefest biography, but it is filled with pictures, letters, memoirs, arranged in a way that speaks to the philosopher's journey to find a place in the world for himself and for his work. I place this book with Edmond and Eidinow's "Wittgenstein's Poker" and Kerr's "Work on Oneself" as excellent companion books to more complete texts on Wittgenstein. None of the books on their own does the subject justice, but together they fill the gaps and enhance understanding of the usually incomplete biographies that accompany his texts.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews