Seneca: The Humanist at the Court of Nero

by Villy Sørensen

Danish

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, History

352 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1984

About the author

Villy Sørensen (13 January 1929 – 16 December 2001) was a Danish short-story writer, philosopher and literary critic of the Modernist tradition. His fiction was heavily influenced by his philosophical ideas, and he has been compared to Franz Kafka in this regard. He is the most influential and important Danish philosopher since Søren Kierkegaard.

Born in Copenhagen, Sørensen graduated from the Vestre Borgerdydskole in 1947, and then attended the University of Copenhagen and the University of Freiburg studying philosophy. Although he did not graduate, he later received an honorary degree from the University of Copenhagen.

Sørensen published his first collection of short stories, Strange Stories in 1953, which many critics have identified as being the start of Danish literary Modernism. He published additional collections of short stories in 1955 and 1964, all winning various awards in Denmark. These stories generally explored the absurd and hidden parts of the human psyche.

Sørensen began editing the journal Vindrosen (with Klaus Rifbjerg) in 1959. Afterward, he became a member of the Danish Academy in 1965, subsequently editing several other Modernist journals and periodicals. Sørensen, though he continued to produce short fiction throughout his life, was also deeply engaged in philosophy, about which he wrote many essays and several books including Seneca: The Humanist at the Court of Nero and his response to Søren Kierkegaard's Either/Or, Hverken-eller (i.e. "Neither/Nor"). He also published books and essays about Nietzsche, Kafka, Marx, Schopenhauer and Kierkegaard, and was a notable translator of over 20 books. He was awarded the Grand Prize of the Danish Academy in 1962, The Nordic Council's Literature Prize in 1974, the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 1983, the inaugural Swedish Academy Nordic Prize in 1986, along with many other awards and recognitions. He died in Copenhagen in 2001.

Reviews

[Eugenio · Rating 5 out of 5]

...ragione prevale sempre e che le emozioni e la ragione devono essere mantenute separate...

[Erik · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is way grander in scale than its title implies. The first 20% recount the whole of ancient history from the Trojan Wars to the death of Augustus. Later, when dealing very fully with Seneca's tragedies (interestingly comparing them to Artaud's theatre of cruelty), he spends a lot of time recounting the whole of Greek tragedy. There is also a long chapter on Roman science. The scale would maybe be welcome when dealing with Homer or Plato, but surely no one starts studying Seneca without already knowing most of this material?

In addition, this is almost a dual biography, as Nero's life is dealt with in detail. Sørensen is unfortunately a product of his time (like in the dreadful Oprør fra Midten) and gullibly accepts marxist and freudian theories as scientific. He spends time looking at portraits of Nero and notes that his increasing chubbiness isn't definitive proof of psychopathy - but it definitely is very suspect to him. He accepts almost all stories of Nero's debauchery, including raping his adoptive brother before having him murdered.

Seneca's philosophy is dealt with, but not from a place of privilege. Essays like On Anger and On Clemency (that Sørensen translated himself) are dealt with in detail, but the letters to Lucillius are not dealt with in detail. Sørensen keeps being more interested in finding out what Seneca really thought about Nero than in the philosophy itself.