The Immoralist (Penguin Classics)

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With today's headlines and talk shows, it takes a lot to shock a reader--certainly more than was required in 1902, when André Gide's The Immoralist was first published. What was seen then as a story of dereliction translates today into a tale of introspection and fierce self-discovery. While traveling to Tunis with his new bride, the Parisian scholar Michel is overcome by tuberculosis. As he slowly convalesces, he revels in the physical pleasures of living and resolves to forgo his studies of the past in order to experience the present--to let "the layers of acquired knowledge peel away from the mind like a cosmetic and reveal, in patches, the naked flesh beneath, the authentic being hidden there."

But this is not the Michel his colleagues knew, nor the man Marceline married, and he must hide his new values under the patina of what he now reviles. Bored by Parisian society, he moves to a family farm in Normandy. He is happy there, especially in the company of young Charles, but he must soon return to the city and academe. Michel remains restless until he gives his first lecture and runs into Ménalque, who has long outraged society, and recognizes in him a reflection of his torment. Finally, Michel heads south, deeper into the desert, until, as he confides to his friends, he is lost in the sea of sand, under a clear, directionless sky.

What Gide's story lacks in sensationalism is fulfilled by his descriptive prose, which evokes the exotic nature of Michel's inner and outer journey: "I did not understand the forbearance of this African earth, submerged for days at a time and now awakening from winter, drunk with water, bursting with new juices; it laughed in this springtime frenzy whose echo, whose image I perceived within myself." --Joannie Kervran Stangeland

Book Description

In The Immoralist, André Gide presents the confessional account of a man seeking the truth of his own nature. The story's protagonist, Michel, knows nothing about love when he marries the gentle Marceline out of duty to his father. On the couple's honeymoon to Tunisia, Michel becomes very ill, and during his recovery he meets a young Arab boy whose radiant health and beauty captivate him. An awakening for him both sexually and morally, Michel discovers a new freedom in seeking to live according to his own desires. But, as he also discovers, freedom can be a burden. A frank defense of homosexuality and a challenge to prevailing ethical concepts, The Immoralist is a literary landmark, marked by Gide's masterful, pure, simple style.

Translated by David Watson, with an introduction by Alan Sheridan.

Customer Reviews:

Very Fine.......2007-08-27

Andre Gide's small confession is a key work of French modernism. In a way this novel is a precursor to Camus' Stranger, though it is much more elegant and subtle than the latter.

Michel is the titular Immoralist, a man determined to live life fully without the arbitrary constrictions of religion or morality. He is recently married to a woman he admits he does not love; but when he falls ill to tuberculosis her loving comfort wins him over.

Together they travel throughout the beautiful coast of Italy, and later off of Michel's inherited farm and land. Gide's prose is both sensual and dark; we know through Michel's subtle ruminations and interactions that he is illicitly attracted to young boys. What is brilliant about 'The Immoralist,' is Gide's refusal to centralize this topic; rather, he constantly pushes it to the margins in the same way that Michel's unconscious remains obscure.

This work is an essential and very beautiful work of modern French literature; it will be read and studied for many ages to come.

Gide is truly classic.......2006-12-14

Andre Gide's excellent novel is, in effect, a rejection of the more materialistic and shallow urges of the human soul. Our narrator, born into what is a materially privileged life, is left cold by the creature comforts and pleasant social millieus that this lifestyle affords him. Instead he is filled with a desire to throw himself into the seamier side of life.

It is in this social underbelly that Gide revels. It would appear that Gide enjoys describing it as much as his protagonist enjoys experiencing it, such is the glee and reverence with which he writes. It is these more low brow and socially left of centre beings that both author and character learn to adore.

However Gide does not take the more cliched route of a descent into disorder, followed by the protagonists capitulation and collapse. Instead he masterfully leaves his reader 'dangling over the edge', hinting at the further hedonism to come, but not telling all in the culmination of this memorable novel.

Don't skimp for the cheaper thrift translation........2006-02-20

I saw there was a Dover thrift edition for 2 dollars. Hard to argue with the price, but this translation is erudite and has a force of language that seems to me like it must mirror Gide's own impressionist force, despite my personal weakness with the French language. Gide was famous for his ability to invoke a single moment, a single image or feeling that puts the reader inside the existence of a character, even if only for a short time. This ability is translated quite well into this edition, and I must conclude (based on a fairly small sample of reading from both) that it is a superior translation.

Who could fail to find some reflection of themself in the deathbed confessions of the protagonist Michel? The premise is that he is speaking in the first person to his good friends, and as the reader it feels like you have known this character for quite some time. His voice is unspecifically familiar, as if you might suspect one of your real-life friends to one day give you a similar account. You feel you have known this man for a long time, and you can't help but be fascinated by both the content of his story and in the loving, precise, and ecstatic way that he tells it.

Up against this tone is a story that ends in depravity and woe, without any redemption for the character. To me, this is understandable and realistic. Life is not always an endless succession of learning experiences. At times it is the realization that some compromises cannot be avoided, and that true catharsis of ethics, morality, or emotion is only possible within very short time frames. Why not explore the life of a character who does not learn from his actions, or even repent of them at the end? He accepts his own frailties, his own limitations, and in this respect he continues to dig deep inside of our psyche for hidden insights that might have otherwise escaped us.

I almost always prefer first person novels to those that occur in the third person. We live our life in the first person, and an objective narrator is always, at a certain point, a necessary fiction. This book stands with Nabokov's Lolita as a perfect example of the power that is sometimes unleashed by exploring a character through the eyes of the character himself.

This is an original and well-written work, breathtaking in its use of language. Highly recommended.

The inevitable.......2005-06-22

It is the fate of every human being living in this world of our making to follow in Michel's footsteps. As he `unravels' we follow him in his story... the story of us... when we finally decide to give in to a full blown and unabashed critique of everything we think we know, with each step dropping a chunk of the arrogant and happy façade of civilization and all that it entails. (Or should I say entrails?)

But it shouldn't be a story of a man's loss of humanity or sanity, the book should more properly serve (among other things) both as a warning to all who subscribe, at any level, to the Machiavellian notion of the powerful over the weak, and as an introduction to the inherent potential of human beings to live as egalitarian gods or perish in the might of oblivion's dust.

A powerful book.

LOVE ON A COLLISION COURSE WITH EVIL.......2004-11-11

One of great surprises of reading Andre Gide's classic novel, THE IMMORALIST, is the light it shines on the study of balanced and imbalanced demands made on women within the context of marriage. The novel is largely the story of Michel, a man who emerges from a long bout with tuberculosis to discover that he is a social clone who now yearns for a more individual identity and complete life. Illness generally provides the framework for transformation and the study of loyalty in THE IMMORALIST.

The first part of the book finds Michel suffering gravely from tuberculosis and his wife, Marceline, battling triumphantly to save him. However, once Marceline contracts the same disease, Michel becomes too enchanted with his own evolving consciousness to save his wife's life as she did his. With this single brilliant stroke of irony, Gide poses a number questions still challenging for men and women to contemplate. Namely, are the qualities inherent in a woman's love necessarily more capable of sustaining life than those inherent in a man's? And if so, why? Moreover, what personal sacrifices or changes must men make in order to generate a more life-affirming sensibility? What are the likely consequences--social, individual, political, spiritual--if men fail? And mostly, to what degree, and why, do women so often participate in their own oppression?

The element of mysticism in THE IMMORALIST is subtle but significant, with Oscar Wilde, in the form of the character named Menalque, providing encouragement to live beyond established social restraints. THE IMMORALIST abounds with the kind of literary, historical, and philosophical allusions that by 1917 had convinced numerous admirers that Gide was a prophet for the 20th century. It also demonstrates why his voice still commands attention all over the world in the 21st century.

by Aberjhani
author of The Harlem Renaissance Way Down South
and Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance (Facts on File Library of American History)

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Surviving James Dean
James Dean Forever
Age passes
Great book
The Bad and The Beautiful

Surviving James Dean
William Bast
Manufacturer: Barricade Legends / Barricade Books Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 156980298X

Book Description

A beautifully written memoir, candid and definitive, that tells the story of Bast's five year relationship with the charismatic actor and American legend--James Dean.

Customer Reviews:

Surviving James Dean.......2007-07-20

Even someone with a mediocre interest in Hollywood's rebel will find Bast's account intriguiing. There's something more than a biography hidden in the pages of "Surviving James Dean." It's almost much more like a memoir of William Bast's, and it allows the reader to get a sense of longing that one can easily relate to. "Surviving James Dean," is as much a love story as it is a recount of the icon-formation days of one of Hollywood's most enigmatic figures. The book honestly portrays the lonely, the erratic, and the very honest side of James Dean in a way that neither flatters nor harms a golden reputation shrouded in foggy dust.

One of the best lines in the novel regards a hug shared between the "teammates," (Dean's reference for the friendship) on the New York streets before James flies off to LA to begin filming "East of Eden." Bast references the warmth the hug left on him that day and even now, while writing the book, the warmth is remembered. Reading this book is much like the warmth from a good, meaningful hug. Even now, writing this review, I can feel the warmth left by an honest and intriguing memory of one of America's notable figurines.

James Dean Forever.......2007-05-03

This book was very dissapointing to me. As a James Dean fan, I was hoping to know more about James Dean's short and tragic life. I probably should have learned more about "Surviving James Dean" before I bought it. When I got to the center of the book, around page 179, I wondered who this book was supposed to be about. Was it supposed to be about James Dean or William Bast? Very dissapointing, indeed. If you are interested in learning more about James Dean, then avoid reading this one. Also, an interesting point that came out of this was that William Bast was open about his sexuality in "Surviving James Dean", and he mentioned how he kept his sexuality to himself due to the prejudice of that time period, but for some reason, Mr. Bast seems to think that it was ok for him to refer to James Dean as a "hick" from Indiana.

Age passes.......2007-03-09

Some time ago I met a gentleman who said he knew the roommate of James Dean (I was an Ensign USPHS at the time). He told me a number of things which at the time I thought were a little far fetched. But when I read this book I find that the things told to me were in fact "MORE THAN TRUE". This book is well written and has some very true to life facts that make it very memorable. To the point and very truthful as well as believeable. After all these years, reading this book, I realize that I really indirectly met and knew the James Dean and am grateful to read it.

Great book.......2007-02-16

As a worshipper of James Dean this was so informative, like he is still alive

The Bad and The Beautiful.......2007-01-15

Some people kvetch because Baxt, now nearly 80, has already gone to the James Dean well twice before (three times before if we count his famous teleplay about a James Dean-like actor caught in a web of celebrity license, "The Myth Makers".) First he wrote a quickie book in the immediate wake of Dean's horrific death (the first biography of the perished actor) and then years later he was instrumental in a TV version of Dean's life that was aired during our nation's bicentennnial and starred strangely vacant Stephen McHattie as Dean, while a handsome Michael Brandon played Bast himself as the 'best friend.' It was a weird production featuring such quintessentially 70s female stars as Amy Irving, Brooke Adams, Candy Clark, Heather Menzies, and Meg Foster all in one movie.

But here in 2006 all of a sudden it's time for Bast to show us what he could not reveal before, that Dean was gay and that his romance with Pier Angeli was a matter of wishful thinking on his part and on the part of the paparazzi and the movie moguls who were wary of scandal. Bast was there from the beginning, and was Dean's roommate for a year or more, and so he saw him literally with his pants down. And he describes their occasional romantic fumblings with each other, though it strikes me that the James Dean he describes wasn't really all that sexually driven. He had a yen for the dark side, which explains his liaison with Vampira and with Rogers Brackett, but that was just to help him act and to further his career. His strange posture was that of Quasimodo and many of his contemporaries would be startled to find out that in afterlife he has attained this sex god status. In retrospect, Bast's book is more interesting when Dean is off stage and Bast is able to focus on peripheral figures, like the Hollywood comedy genius Joan Davis, whom both Bast and Dean knew well (both were engaged to her daughter, Beverly). Someone should make a movie about Joan Davis and Beverly's relationship--it would be like Norma Desmond plus daughter, sort of like that Charles Busch play DIE MOMMIE DIE. (Now that we have all of Dean's screen work on DVD, surely it's time to pay attention to the magnificence of Joan Davis? Let's roll those babies out soon!) I also enjoyed finding out much more than I have ever known before about Alan Young of Mr. ED fame. I didn't even know he was Canadian, but now it all makes sense.

After Dean's death, Bast tells the story of being at the eye of the hurricane as a cult explodes around him and everywhere he goes, esepcially in England and France, people like Jean Cocteau want to shake his hand, or a body part somewhat lower on the anatomy, as a chance to touch the man who held James Dean in his arms. It was a heady period in European history, and Bast tells the story as it has never been told before.

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The definite guide to Nietzsche's thought
Morality Beyond Ethics
Intruiging interpretation of an outstanding philosopher

Nietzsche: The Ethics of an Immoralist
Peter Berkowitz
Manufacturer: Harvard University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0674624432

Book Description

Once regarded as a conservative critic of culture, then enlisted by the court theoreticians of Nazism, Nietzsche has come to be revered by postmodern thinkers as one of their founding fathers, a prophet of human liberation who revealed the perspectival character of all knowledge and broke radically with traditional forms of morality and philosophy.

In Nietzsche: The Ethics of an Immoralist, Peter Berkowitz challenges this new orthodoxy, asserting that it produces a one-dimensional picture of Nietzsche's philosophical explorations and passes by much of what is provocative and problematic in his thought. Berkowitz argues that Nietzsche's thought is rooted in extreme and conflicting opinions about metaphysics and human nature. Discovering a deep unity in Nietzsche's work by exploring the structure and argumentative movement of a wide range of his books, Berkowitz shows that Nietzsche is a moral and political philosopher in the Socratic sense whose governing question is, "What is the best life?"

Nietzsche, Berkowitz argues, puts forward a severe and aristocratic ethics, an ethics of creativity, that demands that the few human beings who are capable acquire a fundamental understanding of and attain total mastery over the world. Following the path of Nietzsche's thought, Berkowitz shows that this mastery, which represents a suprapolitical form of rule and entails a radical denigration of political life, is, from Nietzsche's own perspective, neither desirable nor attainable.

Out of the colorful and richly textured fabric of Nietzsche's books, Peter Berkowitz weaves an interpretation of Nietzsche's achievement that is at once respectful and skeptical, an interpretation that brings out the love of truth, the courage, and the yearning for the good that mark Nietzsche's magisterial effort to live an examined life by giving an account of the best life.

Customer Reviews:

The definite guide to Nietzsche's thought.......2001-03-18

I've been reading Nietzsche for over four years now (which is about one fifth of my lifetime) and I still find this by far the best book on the subject (in second place is a book called "What Nietzsche means" by one George Morgan - first published in 1939!). Peter Berkowitz analyses, criticizes and, in this way, almost f i n a l i z e s Nietzsche's thought as he shows in which way Nietzsche's failures, too, contribute to his overall achievement, which is to show a n d j u s t i f y the limits of man's power over his own destiny. By all means read it: it is a milestone in modern thinking and will still be read in a hundred year's time.

Morality Beyond Ethics.......1998-09-08

Berkowitz does a good job undermining (a) the "new Nietzsche" of recent French theory and the postmodern politics of identity and difference; and (b) the "old Nietzsche" cavalierly dismissed as a nihilist and relativist. Where Berkowitz falls way short is in failing to understand how and why Nietzsche "relies" on traditional notions he allegedly "repudiates" (e.g., nature, reason, morality). Nietzsche is not interested in repudiation but transfiguration. You can't transfigure what isn't first "figured" (life and values as they have been). What Berkowitz calls the "contest of [irreconcilable] extremes" at the heart of Nietzsche's thought is actually the context in which Nietzsche argues for a life-affirming morality beyond the life-denying ethics of what we would call "traditional values." One may like the venerable truths Berkowitz favors. But how ironic to turn Nietzsche, of all thinkers, into a virtual pretext for arguing traditional values!

Intruiging interpretation of an outstanding philosopher.......1998-07-10

I read this book immediately after finishing Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Berkowitz presents Nietzsche's philosophy in a way not often undertaken. He emphasizes the ethics that Nietzsche holds, despite his lack of belief in God. I enjoyed this because I felt, while reading Nietzsche, that he did not imply the death of morality with the death of God. Berkowitz does a fine job of proving this point.

Living with Nietzsche: What the Great "Immoralist" Has to Teach Us

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A major contribution to scholars, students, and general readers
Just Awful
Is there an editor in the house?
An Excellent Introduction to a Great thinker
Sloppy and inaccurate

Living with Nietzsche: What the Great "Immoralist" Has to Teach Us
Robert C. Solomon
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
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Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0195160142

Book Description

Friedrich Nietzsche is one of the most popular and controversial philosophers of the last 150 years. Narcissistic, idiosyncratic, hyperbolic, irreverent--never has a philosopher been appropriated, deconstructed, and scrutinized by such a disparate array of groups, movements, and schools of thought. Adored by many for his passionate ideas and iconoclastic style, he is also vilified for his lack of rigor, apparent cruelty, and disdain for moral decency. In Living with Nietzsche, Solomon suggests that we read Nietzsche from a very different point of view, as a provocative writer who means to transform the way we view our lives. This means taking Nietzsche personally. Rather than focus on the "true" Nietzsche or trying to determine "what Nietzsche really meant" by his seemingly random and often contradictory pronouncements about "the Big Questions" of philosophy, Solomon reminds us that Nietzsche is not a philosopher of abstract ideas but rather of the dazzling personal insight, the provocative challenge, the incisive personal probe. He does not try to reveal the eternal verities but he does powerfully affect his readers, goading them to see themselves in new and different ways. It is Nietzsche's compelling invitation to self-scrutiny that fascinates us, engages us, and guides us to a "rich inner life." Ultimately, Solomon argues, Nietzsche is an example as well as a promulgator of "passionate inwardness," a life distinguished by its rich passions, exquisite taste, and a sense of personal elegance and excellence.

Customer Reviews:

A major contribution to scholars, students, and general readers.......2005-09-05

What follows are a few excerpts from my review of Solomon's book in the respected philosophical journal Mind (forthcoming):

"Robert Solomon's Living with Nietzsche is a superb book on Nietzsche's ethics. Several reasons support this assessment: First, Solomon brings to center stage Nietzsche's many constructive contributions to ethical theory and practice. Beyond his famous genealogical critique of morality, Nietzsche's primary ethical goal is to transform readers, inspiring them to improve themselves, and Solomon shows how Nietzsche accomplishes this. Second, he evaluates many of Nietzsche's major claims. Too often Nietzsche scholars neglect this task, and they can learn from Solomon's example. Third, although Nietzsche's ethics differs from Kantian and consequentialist moralities, Solomon argues that it contributes to the recently revived Aristotelian tradition of virtue ethics. This comparison illuminates both Nietzsche and virtue ethics. Fourth, he provides a balanced and nuanced account of Nietzsche's views that incorporates texts written in all of Nietzsche's periods and styles. Solomon succeeds in finding the right tone to explicate Nietzsche.

The book possesses additional strengths as well. For example, Solomon correctly understands that the key to Nietzsche's preferred virtues is overflowing energy, enthusiasm, and inspiration. Also, Solomon's expertise in the theory of emotions helps him clarify Nietzsche's complex views on this topic. ... Overall, Solomon's book impressively synthesizes a lifetime of writing on Nietzsche's ethics.

Here are a few examples of Solomon's important critical questions. (1) Nietzsche asserts that the fundamental constituent of the psyche is drives, and Solomon argues that this explains both too much and too little. Distinguishing drives from goals can be difficult, and Nietzsche never seriously clarifies how various drives are related to one another or even what the basic ones are. Is the will to power a single drive or a principle by which different drives are related? Nietzsche depicts drives as conflicting, but says little about how such conflicts are resolved. (2) Nietzsche sought to overcome Schopenhauer's metaphysics of the will, but then seems to reintroduce something similar when he postulates the will to power. Even if Nietzsche were to claim that it is an empirical hypothesis rather than a metaphysical postulate, Solomon still has questions: Is it a motive or a goal? Is it the feeling of power or reality of power that is sought? Is its primary referent power over oneself, or is power over others also essential? This vagueness makes Nietzsche's theory difficult to evaluate empirically. (3) Solomon questions whether all aspects of morality derive from resentment and even challenges Nietzsche's claim that resentment is always a corrupt motive. He thinks it can be and has been creative in overcoming oppression."

I am currently writing a book on Nietzsche's ethics myself, and I learned a lot from Solomon's book. I think it is accessible to the general reader and also makes a genuine contribution to Nietzsche scholarship. The writing is lively; the issues are important; and the discussion is valuable.

William R. Schroeder
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Just Awful.......2004-07-03

Thewizardofuz is mostly just plain right in his review here. I agree that Solomon's discussions of virtue over the years are interesting. He has even sold them to banks and other corporations through his incarnation as a mass producer of business ethics seminars, books and tapes. But I can't rate the book very high simply due to the interestingness of this pass on what is an old topic for Solomon.

There are no significant analyses of any Nietzsche passages in this work. The only indented quotation in the whole book is a poem by somebody else. Another reviewer here senses a breezy style in Solomon. That is almost it I guess; Solomon's style does give the impression of breeziness. But look closely: the style here is a series of non-sequiturs. Almost none of his sentences belong in the order in which they appear.Nobody changes the topic like Solomon.

Solomon opened his only monograph on Nietzsche with the short-sighted thesis that Nietzsche not only uses fallacies intentionally, but manages to redeem them into non-fallacies too.

His Nietzsche does not seem to do much or to say much. Instead, Solomon is busy standing in for Nietzsche as though before a crowd of students, assuring them that Nietzsche accepts them as they are and does not deny them even one iota of their current moral prejudices. In Zarathustra's terms, Solomon thinks that Nietzsche pulls the cart of the masses, when in fact it is Solomon who pulls the cart of the masses, and then imagines that Nietzsche is just like him, and would, out of pity for youth, pretend that youth is special.

More worrisome yet is Solomon's notion that he can commit ad hominem fallacies because Nietzsche did. Which is worse: to think that you have a right to err (fallacy) for the sake of morals, or that you have a right to lie on their behalf? This is important because Solomon wants to commit ad hominem fallacies, and he wants to commit them against Nietzsche.

At least we know that Nietzsche rejected the philosophies that want to found for themselves a right to lie. That includes Plato and all of German Idealism for Nietzsche (EH:CW and EH IV).

Is there an editor in the house?.......2004-05-31

Horrible writer. Someone should send the good professor Strunk's "The Elements of Style" for his birhtday. The man has never met a parenthesis he didn't like.

I'm not certain what " The Great Immoralist" has taught him but whatever it was, it wasn't how to keep the reader awake.

Rather ironic when one considers that is a study of the one philosopher since Plato who is a joy to read simply for the boldness and power of his style, the outrageous Freddy.

Worth 2 stars for the chapter on Nietszsche's virtues, as contrasted with Aristotle's. Fascinating.

Yes. both were moralists to the core and no, Nietszche wasn't a nihilist.

Wake me up when a second edition comes out that neither rambles nor repeats the same points endlessly.

Hmm...is that "Eternal Recurrence"?

(sigh)

An Excellent Introduction to a Great thinker.......2003-12-25

Nietzsche once stated that there are no facts, but only interpretations. Judging from the volume of tomes written about him over the years, especially in the last 20 years, scholars seem to have taken him literally. There now exist a ton of interpretations, each claiming to reveal the "true" Nietzsche, based on some angle gleaned from his writings. For some0one familiar with Nietzsche, this presents no problem; but for the student coming to read Nietzsche for- the first time, the plethora of various interpretations can be so daunting as to possibly prove discouraging, which would be a great loss, for there is no greater intellectual pleasure than reading Nietzsche.

For those who are new to Nietzsche, this is the book for you. Rather than try to determine what Nietzsche is the "true" Nietzsche, Solomon instead looks at the Nietzsche who first appears to in his writings: the Nietzsche of the personal insight, the moralist who wants to give us another way to think about life, especially the inner life. The book most students begin with when encountering Nietzsche is "Thus Spake Zarathustra," a book profoundly about the inner life.

The book is also rewarding in that Solomon does not write like an academic, but rather with a free flowing style that captures the reader's attention and draws him to the points about the subject Solomon wishes to make. Solomon loves his subject and that enthusiasm is evident when reading the book, which makes it even harder to put down.

While I would strongly recommend this book to those who are new to Nietzsche, I can safely say that even the most well-read Nietzsche follower will find intellectual chestnuts worth the time throughout this volume. I can only say in passing that Solomon is the professor I wish I had when I took my first course on this great thinker.

Sloppy and inaccurate.......2003-08-09

The reviewers here seem to be getting things right. There is a liveliness to Solomon's prose, and it can be informative, and Solomon does bring up important stuff, as reviewer Schroeder says. It is also true, as reviewers Wiz and Meister say, that Solomon achieves this by being breezy, light, sometimes incoherent, and always rather touchy feely.
I find that the book has barely a hint of structure to it. What it has it gets from Solomon's ramblings about ad hominem fallacies in Nietzsche. These remarks fill out the first chapter of the book, but they are talked about and hinted at in the introduction and elsewhere. Solomon has published these ideas about Nietzsche and ad hominem fallacies elsewhere. They appear highly convoluted and specious to me.
Solomon has spent his entire career writing about virtue, and, predictably, the chapter on his specialty is the strongest one.
In response to reviewer Schroeder I will just say that Nietzsche never held that "resentment is always a corrupt motive" and so Solomon's criticism of Nietzsche on this front is a straw man. The same point is made by Dr. May in the book called Nietzsche's Ethics and His War on Morality.
Clearly the weakest part of the book is its confusion of ad hominem fallacies with things that are non-fallacious, such as reasoning about human motives and about human psychology. There seems to be no good reason for Solomon to use the term ad hominem on many occasions where he does so. It is as though he wants to have an important idea about logic, but his big idea amounts to calling psychological explanation ad hominem. Explanations are not even arguments, so there can be no fallacy in them.

The Immoralist/L'Immoraliste: A Dual-Language Book

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The Immoralist/L'Immoraliste: A Dual-Language Book
Andre Gide
Manufacturer: Dover Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0486426955

Book Description

One of Gide's best-known works, The Immoralist concerns the unhappy consequences of amoral hedonism, telling the story of a man who travels through Europe and North Africa and attempts to transcend the limitations of conventional morality. The author's simplicity of style is skillfully retained in this translation, which also preserves the passion of the original.

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The Immoralist
Andre Gide
Manufacturer: Vintage Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000GWG5G0

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The Immoralist
A. Gide
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000I0YQQG

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Andre Gide's The immoralist,
Ruth Goetz
Manufacturer: Dramatists Play Service
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Andre Gide's The immoralist, Strait is the gate, and other works;: A critical commentary (Monarch notes and study guides, 835-9)

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Andre Gide's The immoralist, Strait is the gate, and other works;: A critical commentary (Monarch notes and study guides, 835-9)
Armand Schwerner
Manufacturer: Distributed by Monarch Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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ASIN: B0006BORTS

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Der Immoralist.
Andre Gide
Manufacturer: Dtv
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 3423123451

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