The Mirror of Ideas
1994
First Published
3.62
Average Rating
150
Number of Pages
If not by nature, then by habit, people tend to match one thing with another—man and woman, laughter and tears, sickness and health, fire and water, master and servant—thereby accentuating similarities and contrasts and opening a field of relations. In The Mirror of Ideas, Michel Tournier examines these pairs and a host of others to demonstrate how pairing one object or idea with another generates the work of imagination, philosophy, and creative thinking of all kinds. Tournier treats pairs both lowly and exalted—moving from fork and spoon, horse and bull, cat and dog, to fear and anguish, poetry and prose, body and soul, being and nothingness. Hardly an exhaustive inventory of traditional pairs, his selection nonetheless opens the door to patterns deeply embedded in culture and civilization, speech and writing, memory and habit. Possessed of both brilliant surfaces and surprising depths, Tournier’s myriad reflections on the mirror of language reveal why his works have generated international attention and acclaim.
Avg Rating
3.62
Number of Ratings
146
5 STARS
18%
4 STARS
37%
3 STARS
34%
2 STARS
8%
1 STARS
2%
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Author
Michel Tournier
Author · 15 books
Michel Tournier was a French writer. His works are highly considered and have won important awards such as the Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française in 1967 for Vendredi ou les limbes du Pacifique. and the Prix Goncourt for Le Roi des aulnes in 1970. His works dwell on the fantastic, his inspirations including traditional German culture, Catholicism, and the philosophies of Gaston Bachelard. He lived in Choisel and was a member of the Académie Goncourt. His autobiography has been translated and published as The Wind Spirit (Beacon Press, 1988).
