Solomon Maimon: An Autobiography.
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About This Book
The first complete and annotated English translation of Maimon’s influential and delightfully entertaining memoirSolomon Maimon's autobiography has delighted readers for more than two hundred years, from Goethe, Schiller, and George Eliot to Walter Benjamin and Hannah Arendt. The American poet and critic Adam Kirsch has named it one of the most crucial Jewish books of modern times. Here is the first complete and annotated English edition of this enduring and lively work.Born into a down-on-its-luck provincial Jewish family in 1753, Maimon quickly distinguished himself as a prodigy in learning....
Chapters (394)
- SOLOMON MAIMON.
- SOLOMON MAIMON: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
- Translated from the German, with Additions and Notes,
- J. CLARK MURRAY, LL.D., F.R.S.C.,
- Professor of Mental and Moral Philosophy, M'Gill College, Montreal.
- CONTENTS.
- "TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.
- SOLOMON MAIMON.
- INTRODUCTION.
- CHAPTER I.
- My Grandfather's Housekeeping.
- CHAPTER II.
- First Reminiscences of Youth.
- CHAPTER III.
- Private Education and Independent Study.
- CHAPTER IV.
- Jewish Schools—The Joy of being released from them causes a stiff foot.
- CHAPTER V.
- My Family is driven into Misery, and an old Servant loses by his great Faithfulness a Christian Burial.
- CHAPTER VI.
- New Abode, new Misery—The Talmudist.
- CHAPTER VII.
- Joy endureth but a little while.
- CHAPTER VIII.
- The Pupil knows more than the Teacher—A theft à la Rousseau, which is discovered—"The ungodly provideth, and the righteous putteth it on."
- CHAPTER IX.
- Love Affairs and Matrimonial Proposals—The Song of Solomon may be used in Matchmaking—A new Modus Lucrandi—Smallpox.
- CHAPTER X.
- I become an object of contention, get two wives at once, and am kidnapped at last.
- CHAPTER XI.
- My Marriage in my Eleventh Year makes me the Slave of my Wife, and procures for me Cudgellings from my Mother-in-law—A Ghost of Flesh and Blood.
- CHAPTER XII.
- The Secrets of the Marriage State—Prince Radzivil,[24] or what is not all allowed in Poland?
- CHAPTER XIII.
- Endeavour after mental Culture amid ceaseless Struggles with Misery of every kind.
- CHAPTER XIV.
- I study the Cabbalah, and become at last a Physician.
- CHAPTER XV.
- A brief Exposition of the Jewish Religion, from its Origin down to the most recent Times.
- CHAPTER XVI.
- Jewish Piety and Penances.
- CHAPTER XVII.
- Friendship and Enthusiasm.
- CHAPTER XVIII.
- The Life of a Family-Tutor.
- CHAPTER XIX.
- Also on a Secret Society, and therefore a Long Chapter.
- CHAPTER XX.
- Continuation of the Former, and also something about Religious Mysteries.
- CHAPTER XXI.
- Journeys to Königsberg, Stettin and Berlin, for the purpose of extending my knowledge of men.
- CHAPTER XXII.
- Deepest Stage of Misery, and Deliverance.
- CHAPTER XXIII.
- Arrival in Berlin—Acquaintances—Mendelssohn—Desperate Study of Metaphysics—Doubts—Lectures on Locke and Adelung.
- CHAPTER XXIV.
- Mendelssohn—A chapter devoted to the memory of a worthy friend.
- CHAPTER XXV.
- My aversion at first for belles lettres, and my subsequent conversion—Departure from Berlin—Sojourn in Hamburg—I drown myself in the same way as a bad actor shoots himself—An old fool of a woman falls in love with me, but her addresses are rejected.
- CHAPTER XXVI.
- I return to Hamburg—A Lutheran Pastor pronounces me to be a scabby Sheep, and unworthy of Admission into the Christian Fold—I enter the Gymnasium, and frighten the Chief Rabbi out of his Wits.
- CHAPTER XXVII.
- Third Journey to Berlin—Frustrated Plan of Hebrew Authorship—Journey to Breslau—Divorce.
- CHAPTER XXVIII.
- Fourth Journey to Berlin—Unfortunate Circumstances—Help—Study of Kant's Writings—Characteristic of my own Works.
- CONCLUDING CHAPTER.
- FOOTNOTES:
- Notes on some Books of Special Interest
- PUBLISHED BY
- ALEXANDER GARDNER,
- PAISLEY AND LONDON.
- AT ALL LIBRARIES.
- SECOND AND ENLARGED EDITION.
- LAW LYRICS. Fcap. 8vo, 3s. 6d.
- WITH PORTRAIT AND NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS.
- DAVID KENNEDY, The Scottish Singer: Reminiscences of his Life and Work. By Marjory Kennedy. And SINGING ROUND THE WORLD: A Narrative of his Colonial and Indian Tours. By David Kennedy, Junr. Demy 8vo, 480 pages, cloth extra, 7s. 6d. Post free.
- WIT, WISDOM, AND PATHOS,
- FROM THE PROSE OF HEINRICH HEINE.
- WITH A FEW PIECES FROM THE "BOOK OF SONGS."
- SELECTED AND TRANSLATED BY J. SNODGRASS.
- ALEX. GARDNER, PAISLEY and LONDON.
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