Andrew Hui Livres

An engaging look at the aphorism, the shortest literary form, across time, languages, and culturesAphorisms―or short philosophical sayings―appear everywhere, from Confucius to Twitter, the Buddha to the Bible, Heraclitus to Nietzsche. Yet despite this ubiquity, the aphorism is the least studied literary form. What are its origins? How did it develop? Were the enigmatic sayings of charismatic sages the original “social media”? And why do some of our most celebrated modern philosophers use aphoristic fragments to convey their deepest ideas? In A Theory of the Aphorism , Andrew Hui crisscrosses histories and cultures to answer these questions and more. Encompassing literature, philology, and philosophy, A Theory of the Aphorism invites us to reflect anew on the meaning of this pithiest of literary forms.

Exploring the Renaissance studiolo, Andrew Hui examines how personal libraries served as sanctuaries during tumultuous times, fostering self-cultivation while also posing risks to the soul. Through insightful analyses of literary and visual works, he highlights the intimate studies created by humanists like Petrarch and Montaigne, alongside the darker consequences of solitary reading depicted in works by Cervantes and Shakespeare. The book also reflects on contemporary reading habits, enriched by perspectives from diverse book cultures, making it a profound commentary on bibliophilia and bibliomania.

The book argues that the Renaissance was the Ruin-naissance, the birth of the ruin as category of discourse that inspired voluminous poetic production. By examining Petrarch, Du Bellay, the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, Spenser, and Shakespeare, Hui explains how writers used the ruin to think about their relationship to classical antiquity.