Essays
1618
- aphorisms and apothegms
- classical mythology
- early works to 1800
- english essays
- good and evil
- logic
- methodology
- modern philosophy
- renaissance philosophy
- science
The story
"Bacon's Essays have attracted an eager readership since their publication in 1625. They sum up a lifetime's observations on the whole range of human activity, by one of the keenest minds of the Renaissance. In their third and final revision Bacon designed the Essays to fill some of the gaps he had diagnosed in the study of mankind, such as the formative influences on individual behaviour of birth and temperament, of environment, social exchange, leisure, business, and politics. Bacon's approach varies greatly from essay to essay, juxtaposing systematic analysis with brilliant apercus, in styles ranging from the detached and laconic to the passionately engaged, especially when expressing his moral beliefs."--BOOK JACKET. "This closely annotated edition is based on Brian Vickers's Oxford Authors text and includes appendices containing extracts from the Essays (1597), the Essays (1612) and 'Antitheses of Things' (1623)."--BOOK JACKET.
What it’s like
Compact, sentence-dense prose that reads like a sequence of carved proverbs: short, balanced, sometimes gnomic, with the odd sudden flare of vivid imagery such as a man "like a candle" or a wrestler's stance. The page feels austere and old, a Renaissance study lit by a single lamp, with marginal annotations and footnotes crowding the text and the pale weight of early modern English setting the register. Its vibe is dry, watchful, and quietly bracing, the feel of a thoughtful mind making lists of human folly and wisdom at a desk late in the evening, or dipping in for a single essay between longer reads. Pacing is brisk and fragmentary, with no narrative to carry you, so it suits short sittings: a few pages over coffee, a sceptical sip of advice on friendship, power or study. Tone is detached and laconic in most places, warming into passionate moral conviction when Bacon turns to virtue and vice. Intensity is low: no violence, no sexual content, only occasional cool discussion of cruelty, death and political ruin, delivered at a remove. It is for readers who enjoy aphorism, historical texture, and the pleasure of a mind rigorously sorting the world into categories.
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