Praeterita
Introduction by Timothy Hilton
John Ruskin
- As
- a
- memoir
- elevated
- to
- the
- level
- of
- fine
- art,
- John
- Ruskin’s
- Praeterita
- stands
- alongside
- The
- Education
- of
- Henry
- Adams
- and
- the
- confessions
- of
- Augustine,
- Rousseau,
- and
- Tolstoy.
- A
- luminous
- account
- of
- his
- childhood
- and
- youth,
- Praeterita
- is
- the
- last
- major
- work
- of
- the
- revolutionary
- nineteenth-century
- critic.Written
- in
- the
- lucid
- intervals
- between
- the
- bouts
- of
- dementia
- that
- haunted
- his
- final
- years,
- Praeterita
- tells
- the
- story
- of
- Ruskin’s
- early
- life—the
- formation
- of
- his
- taste
- and
- intellect
- through
- education,
- travels
- in
- Europe,
- and
- encounters
- with
- great
- works
- of
- art
- and
- artists.
- In
- abandoning
- the
- traditional
- linear
- mode
- of
- autobiography,
- Ruskin
- opened
- up
- the
- form
- and
- was
- an
- important
- influence
- on
- Proust.
- He
- also
- provided
- a
- vivid,
- detailed
- portrait
- of
- pre-Victorian
- and
- Victorian
- England
- that
- is
- as
- indispensable
- an
- account
- of
- its
- era
- as
- Samuel
- Pepys’s
- diary
- is
- of
- England
- in
- the
- seventeenth
- century.This
- edition
- of
- Praeterita
- is
- accompanied
- by
- Dilecta,
- Ruskin’s
- own
- selection
- from
- his
- letters,
- diaries,
- and
- other
- writings.
- In
- these
- more
- private
- writings
- we
- get
- a
- fascinating
- glimpse
- of
- genius
- as
- it
- flickers
- in
- and
- out
- of
- madness.
- Together
- these
- two
- works
- illuminate
- the
- life
- and
- mind
- of
- a
- towering
- intellect
- who
- left
- an
- extraordinary
- mark
- on
- the
- history
- of
- aesthetics
- and
- culture,
- and
- on
- the
- very
- course
- of
- autobiography.
- With
- a
- new
- Introduction
- by
- Tim Hilton
pro-mbooks3 : libris
