Flesh In The Age Of Reason [Hardcover]

I cannot believe no one has reviewed Roy Porter's last book. It reminds me of the Metaphysical Club, but it is perhaps a bit more wry. I enjoyed it thoroughly and have added it to my collection of books on the Enlightenment. It was simultaneously funny and intellectual stimulating. Also, Porter makes the subject of the Enlightmentment exciting.

At the tender age of 55, while enjoying early retirement in the county of Sussex, British historian Roy Porter fell of his bike and passed away. Apparently his overcrowded curriculum had gotten the better of him. He wanted to slow down and learn to play the saxophone. His output had been enormous, culminating in his two books on the British Enlightenment. He had just finished Flesh in the Age of Reason but not yet organized the notes. Simon Schama, who has written a moving preface, and the publisher decided to leave it at that instead of trying to untangle the rather disorderly annotations. There is, however, a massive bibliography. Maybe in part because there are no footnotes, the book has an even more literary feel to it and brims with uninterrupted narrative zest.
At the peak of his powers Porter was destined to thrill his readers for many years to come. "Thrill", because his style is filled with a warmth and wit seldom encountered in academia. His books shimmer with the pleasure of writing and this in combination with his vast erudition gave us something very special indeed. In his gargantuan appetite for life one sometimes gets the feeling that he wrote faster than we could read. Porter's writing on Laurence Sterne is hilarious and downright vertiginous; for a non-native reader a dictionary is probably advisory. Even though I haven't read The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, it sounds as if it could have been taken right out of that novel.
In a panoramic sweep he also renders unforgettable portraits of Samuel Johnson (an "ideot" in the words of Hogarth), Erasmus Darwin, William Hazlitt, Mary Wollstonecraft, Samuel Boswell ("that pious drunk and godfearing lecher"), Edward Gibbon, who despite his corpulence and total lack of exercise actually became slightly older than Porter himself, and many others. Later chapters are interestingly devoted to two other idiosyncratic icons: Blake and Byron.
Being specialized in medicine, Porter has an eye for corporeal as well as spiritual matters, often giving the reader a glimpse behind the (sometimes!) shining surface. Without descending into voyeurism or gossip he describes his protagonists with their physical weaknesses and psychological peculiarities in full view.
LOCKE'S LEAKING SHOES refers to a rather shocking piece of advice offered by the famous philosopher on the blessings of early hardening of the young. Children should be systematically exposed to a bracing regime, including unheated bedrooms, cold-water bathing and wearing shoes that would "leak water" when it rained. Enlightened instructions, to be sure.
This book is, or can be seen as, a sequel to his Enlightenment: Britain and the Creation of the Modern World (2000). His overriding idea is that the British contribution to the Enlightenment is underestimated. Pace Jonathan Israel, I'm prepared to believe anything he says. But first and foremost Flesh in the Age of Reason is a treasure trove. How many stars can one give?
Roy Porter is no more. We are all at a loss.

Flesh in the Age of Reason is wonderful. I mean, I cannot give this book enough credit. One can easily find books on various aspects of Enlightenment period philosophy. Adams, Hume, Locke, et al., are easy to find. But, put into context with their day, their battles with each other, and the growth of their ideas in that context is something not as easily found.

Roy Porter passed away just after finishing and publishing this work and it is a fitting end to his career. In fact, in retrospect, it seems a fitting exploration for one on the verge of death himself. Was Porter, aware that the end of his days was approaching, was he seeking to locate that final truth? I cannot say, but he certainly gave the rest of us who are still shuffling about this mortal coil a great resource to assist us in our own search.

This book neatly "historicizes" the ebb and flow of Enlightenment philosophy and gives us all something to think about.

Thanks Roy Porter and R.I.P.

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