Time of the Magicians

Wittgenstein, Benjamin, Cassirer, Heidegger, and the Decade that Reinvented Philosophy

De: Wolfram Eilenberger, Shaun Whiteside

Narrado por: Rhett Samuel Price

“[A] fascinating and accessible account.... In his entertaining book, Mr. Eilenberger shows that his magicians’ thoughts are still worth collecting, even if, with hindsight, we can see that some performed too many intellectual conjuring tricks.” (Wall Street Journal)

A grand narrative of the intertwining lives of Walter Benjamin, Martin Heidegger, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Ernst Cassirer, major philosophers whose ideas shaped the 20th century

The year is 1919. The horror of the First World War is fresh for the protagonists of Time of the Magicians, each of whom finds himself at a crucial juncture. Benjamin is trying to flee his overbearing father and floundering in his academic career, living hand to mouth as a critic. Wittgenstein, by contrast, has dramatically decided to divest himself of the monumental fortune he stands to inherit, in search of spiritual clarity. Meanwhile, Heidegger, having managed to avoid combat in war by serving as a meteorologist, is carefully cultivating his career. Finally, Cassirer is working furiously on the margins of academia, applying himself to his writing and the possibility of a career at Hamburg University.

The stage is set for a great intellectual drama, which will unfold across the next decade. The lives and ideas of this extraordinary philosophical quartet will converge as they become world historical figures. But as the Second World War looms on the horizon, their fates will be very different.

©2020 Wolfram Eilenberger (P)2020 Penguin Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

“[T]his comprehensive and well-informed treatment deserves credit for bringing four major philosophers down from the heights of abstraction.” (Publishers Weekly)

"[Eilenberger] patiently draws these four intellectual magi out of the shadows of their writings, which often tend toward complete opacity. The result is not a book of academic philosophy but rather an intellectual history that largely succeeds in bringing philosophy to life." (The New York Times Book Review)

"Wolfram Eilenberger’s survey of high thoughts and low politics among German-language philosophers of the 1920s is a salutary tale for today, not just a gripping panorama of century-old dreams and feuds.... Eilenberger shows flair in knitting complex ideas into the fabric of his sages’ lives and times." (The Economist)

Solid book with lousy narrator

The narrator has a pleasant voice but is weak in terms of matching his reading to the meaning and atrocious in terms of pronunciation. It's distracting enough that he hasn't a clue how to pronounce anything in French (e.g., "pain" as "pane", and even famous people's names get butchered, e.g., Rimbaud as rimbode and Baudelaire buda- lair), but what is really irritating is his mispronunciation of everyday English words. True, they are high-school- or university-level words, but surely a book with this subject matter demands a narrator for whom such words are familiar and quotidian. My focus was routinely interrupted by the nagging question "Why has this narrator been chosen for this book?" and the related question "Who among the readers of this book would make such errors?"

Comically awful narration.

The level of ignorance and ineptness exhibited by the narrator is one for the ages. If I were the author, I’d sue the producer for defamation. You could not make this up. Only in America…

Incoherent collection of 4 philosophers

Trying to combine the thoughts of 4 rather diverging thinkers is a Herculean task. It certainly proved too much for the author: there is only some faint attempt by linking sentences at the end of chapter to shift from one philosopher to another, and apart from them living at the same time, there was no reason to place these descriptions in one book.
There is also quite some divergence is style: Benjamin is treated with lots of (rather uninteresting) personal details - his life lacks systemization, his works as well, and the author is unable to explain why his works are so important that he deserves to be treated on the same level also Heidegger, Wittgenstein and Cassirer.
In addition, Heidegger is treated with too much reverence, expressed for one thing by not translating some of his German, as if this cannot be expressed properly in English. So the mumbo-jumbo of Dasein & Angst is repeated as if it was Arabic in the Quran or some holy text.
The descriptions of the thoughts of Wittgenstein and Cassirer are better - for me that of Cassirer taught me a lot. Also that he is simply not half as important as W and H, and thus: worthy to be treated in same level?! In these times, Husserl, Russell, members of the Wiener Kreiss were all highly active - any of them could have raised the level of this book.
In short: perhaps nice for some superficial biographical details (about the love live of some of these men), but if that is not your interest, then you’re better off with some other philosophical biographies.

dense content, terrible narration

the narrator was almost comically bad, and the pronunciation basically random, in every one of the languages encountered

Excellent book, appalling narrator

Excellent content, appalling narrator. Very disappointed. It is worse than text to speech. Much of the meaning is lost due to his total lack intonation.

Detailed exploration of the decade

Fair treatment, detailed, and insightful. Knowing this biography gives clearer insight into their philosophies. Can be a bit high-minded at times for the non-specialist.

WAR

"Time of the Magicians" is particularly interesting because it tells the stories of four philosophers after WWI when Hitler is beginning his rise to power. The primary focus of "Time of the Magicians" is on Ludwig Wittgenstein and Martin Heidegger. Eisenberger's book is a fascinating glimpse into the lives of storied philosophers and the impact on their understanding of life which appears based on their experience in the "Great War" and the buildup to WWII. War is hell by any definition, but it gave philosophers focus for understanding the meaning of life. Sadly, that understanding did not change the perfidy of Martin Heidegger or the future course of history.

A brilliant, entertaining, enlightening book

Wow, such a great pleasure to listen to this audible book, I had to restrict myself to only one hour per day, to stretch it out and fully digest this very enjoyable and dense book. I was not very conversant with philosophy prior to reading this book, but I am now inspired to continue to explore philosophical ideas. This book seamlessly weaves biographical stories of the four philosophers with their philosophies and the cultural milieu of the time. It is a deep, educational and very satisfying book.

The translation seemed very fluid, with no awkward phrases that are so common in other German books in translation.

The narration was close to perfect and significantly added to my understanding of the book. I’m not at all sure I would have been able to read it in print, but the narration kept me fascinated. The narrator does mispronounce some German and other foreign words, but his narration is so good, I could overlook them

I loved it!

Face cross-examination of 4 representative voices

This is a quality production in every aspect, covering one of if not THE most significant moment of modern philosophy. Highly recommended work.

Magnificent

A biography that also serves as a philosophy textbook that is accessible to the mid level philosophy student. It really opens up these philosophers and brings them into context in the presentation with our own world of philosophy today. Also, confirms all of my distaste for Heidegger and gave me a new view into Wittgenstein. Cassirer is someone I'm now much more interested in reading in depth.