{"product_id":"augustines-confessions-9780691217642","title":"Augustines Confessions","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Another gem of a little book by Garry Wills. . . . Wills describes brilliantly the manner in which this strange work seeped slowly through literary circles. . . . His book is a passionate plea that we should read Augustine's strange book as it was first heard, and in the light of the purposes for which it was first written.\"\u003cb\u003e---Peter Brown, \u003ci\u003eNew York Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Wills does for Augustine's \u003ci\u003eConfessions\u003c\/i\u003e what he did for the Gettysburg Address, which is to take a well-known iconic work and examine it with fresh eyes. He views the \u003ci\u003eConfessions\u003c\/i\u003e as a book haunted by Genesis, and this perspective allows him to notice things that are overlooked by commentators whose views are preformed by the interpretive tradition. Having translated the \u003ci\u003eConfessions\u003c\/i\u003e and written a biography of Augustine, Wills is not afraid to go out on a limb, and so even readers who would not agree with his often cheeky interpretations are forced to look at the work afresh. . . . Wills offers an iconoclastic interpretation of a classic work, one that deserves a fresh treatment every few years.\"\u003cb\u003e---Augustine J. Curley, \u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Like a biography of a person, this volume takes Augustine's \u003ci\u003eConfessions\u003c\/i\u003e and traces its birth, growth and decline, and legacy. Since so much of an author's life is connected to his or her work--especially in the case of \u003ci\u003eConfessions\u003c\/i\u003e--this can't help but include a decent amount of Augustine's own bio. . . . Very readable and highly engaging.\"\u003cb\u003e---Wade Osburn, \u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"[Augustine] and Wills, 76--one of the most distinguished Catholic intellectuals (and American historians) alive--make a potent pair in this lovely little volume, a biography not of the author, but of the book itself, especially of how it has been received in the 16 centuries since its creation. . . . Augustine is always going to matter to the Western tradition, atheist or religious, for his insights into the human psyche, and his thoughts on memory and the elusiveness of time. Wills, by stripping away centuries of myth-making, makes him more accessible than ever.\"\u003cb\u003e---Brian Bethune, \u003ci\u003eMacleans\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"This is the type of biography you normally don't see. It is not a biography of Augustine, there are enough of those; it is not another translation of his Confessions, there are enough of those as well. What this is, and what it attempts to be, is a biography of \u003ci\u003eAugustine's Confessions\u003c\/i\u003e.\"\u003cb\u003e---Kevin Winter, \u003ci\u003ePortland Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Garry Wills really is a modern-day Renaissance man. He won a Pulitzer Prize for \u003ci\u003eLincoln at Gettysburg\u003c\/i\u003e and then turned his attention to St Augustine, firstly translating \u003ci\u003eConfessions\u003c\/i\u003e, then writing a biography (\u003ci\u003eSt Augustine: A Life\u003c\/i\u003e) and now offering a 'life' of Confessions from 'The Book's Birth' (the title of the opening chapter) through 'The Book's Conversion' to 'The Book's Baptismal Days' to 'The Book's Afterlife'. And what a story it is.\"\u003cb\u003e---Bruce Elder, \u003ci\u003eSydney Morning Herald\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"This is a short, reliable and well-written introduction to Augustine's \u003ci\u003eConfessions\u003c\/i\u003e that describes, firstly, how the \u003ci\u003eConfessions\u003c\/i\u003e came to be written and, secondly, the author's intentions in writing the \u003ci\u003eConfessions\u003c\/i\u003e these are not quite the same and, thirdly, the subsequent fate of the book. . . . With a deft touch, and in non-technical language, Wills' introductory book not only relays these ideas to the widest possible readership--but also communicates a sensitive understanding of the original context in which the \u003ci\u003eConfessions\u003c\/i\u003e were written and of Augustine's intentions in writing them.\"\u003cb\u003e---Stephen Leach, \u003ci\u003eMetapsychology\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Garry Wills . . . writes about Augustine's Confessions sympathetically but rigorously. He traces its trajectory from first appearance at the end of the 4th century AD until our time, and discusses the ideas contained within it. The result is readable and illuminating, and it sent this reader to Google and Amazon in search of more.\"\u003cb\u003e---Miriam Cosic, \u003ci\u003eThe Australian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Garry Wills has written a short book that teaches us how to read a longer book. If we follow Wills' instructions we will discover new riches in St. Augustine's seminal classic, \u003ci\u003eThe Confessions\u003c\/i\u003e. . . . This is a very helpful guide to the \u003ci\u003eConfessions\u003c\/i\u003e that makes the great spiritual classic accessible to a new generation of readers. Wills' book is not only scholarly, but it makes good spiritual reading. It is highly recommended, not just for the regular reader, but for students of Augustine looking for a fresh take on this great book.\"\u003cb\u003e---Fr. Gilles Mongeau S.J., \u003ci\u003eCatholic Register\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"The single most important thing for Wills, the thing he'd most like you to accept, is that \u003ci\u003eConfessions\u003c\/i\u003e is not autobiography. For Wills, this misreading of Augustine's best-known work has given us any number of interpretations (Freudian, sociological, historical) that obscure the point. And that point is? According to Wills, \u003ci\u003eConfessions\u003c\/i\u003e exist as a kind of 'training ground' or preparation for a reading of the Bible. He shows us how Augustine uses incidents from his life (some actual, some allegorical, some difficult to place on either side of the ledger) to turn the reader's mind toward holy writ, specifically Genesis. In other words, to prepare us to see\/read\/feel God's presence as it is revealed in Genesis. . . . His arguments make for vivid reading.\"\u003cb\u003e---André Alexis, \u003ci\u003eGlobe and Mail\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I have taught the Confessions about twenty times, yet there are things in it I hadn't noticed until Wills pointed them out. This is a tribute to his erudition and critical acumen, but it's also a tribute to the Confessions itself, which, like any other classic, offers the reader an inexhaustible surplus of meaning.\"\u003cb\u003e---Lawrence S Cunningham, \u003ci\u003eCommonweal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"[A] brief, beautifully written story of the Confessions themselves. . . . [Wills] is a prolific writer who has tackled an extraordinary range of topics. . . . Wills clearly loves his subject . . . and that admiration is tied to a clear-headed examination of the many ways Augustine's critics have gone astray over time.\"\u003cb\u003e---Jean Bethke Elshtain, \u003ci\u003eAmerican Conservative\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"This is a masterful introductory work, written by someone of real eloquence and theological sensitivity. It is worth every minute spent on a first reading, and I have no doubt I will go back to the underlined passages each time I reread \u003ci\u003eConfessions\u003c\/i\u003e in the future.\"\u003cb\u003e---Kim Paffenroth, \u003ci\u003eBiography\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e","brand":"Princeton University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48865549746519,"sku":"9780691217642","price":14.24,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780691217642.jpg?v=1722274511","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/augustines-confessions-9780691217642","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}