/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.13919658]

Is there anything I should read before The Decline of the West?

[Anonymous No.13919668]

>>13919658
yeah, this.

[Anonymous No.13919700]

>>13919658
my diary desu and the greeks

[Anonymous No.13919703]

entire western canon and my diary

[Anonymous No.13919869]

Get ready for math talk, OP. For reals, though:
>Halford MacKinder's "The Geographical Pivot of History.
It's short and easy and available for free all over the web. This is a major work that has been very influential with regard to geostrategic/geopolitical thinking. It will help you out a bit with Spengler, in my experience.
>New Testament, some European and general world history, some art history, and some Greco-Roman stuff
You don't need to be a "start with the Greeks" or "muh Western canon" sperg to understand Spengler, but it helps to have at least a passing familiarity with Christianity, famous pieces of art and literature, and ancient to early modern history and culture (especially European).
>general advice for reading Spengler
Not a book, but it's important anyways. Don't confuse some of his talk of "race" or kinds of men or peoples for biological racism or anything like that. This seems to be a common mistake from what I have seen online, and if you read it like that, you will make a fool of yourself and not really understand what he is saying. The man is talking about the historiography with regard to cultures, civilizations, and nations---not pseudoscientific or pseudospiritual notions.

[Anonymous No.13919920]

>>13919658
A history book, then you'll understand why spengler belongs in the trash

[Anonymous No.13920010]

>>13919658
John Farrenkopf's book Prophet of Decline is a biography and assessment of Spengler's philosophy and how it evolves from Decline of the West through Man and Technics.

[Anonymous No.13920076]

>>13919869
What kind of math is in there?

[Anonymous No.13920137]

>>13919869
There is a racial element though. Spinoza he describes as belonging to Magian civlization even though he lived in the West, because he was Jewish.

He's not very clear on the relation between biological race and the Cultures.

[Anonymous No.13920145]

wyndham lewis time and the western man btfoes spengler so you dont have to read him

[Anonymous No.13920155]

>>13920145
explain

[Anonymous No.13920634]

>>13920076
Spengler is quite determinist. He talks about how different cultures' understandings of the world and cultural "missions" affected their art, architecture, science, and mathematics. For instance, Spengler describes the ancient Egyptians as having a linear focus. They progress forward down a path that has already been chosen and this is reflected in the straight passageways leading to a definite end point inside the pyramids. However, he would say that the ancient Egyptians' culture and time would have prevented them from developing an understanding of calculus. In early modern times, the "Faustian" civilization (what we call the West), for better or for worse, started to shake off certain notions and values. This leads to the development of our understanding of calculus, changes the way we do art, and changes our understanding of physics. He goes into about as much depth in math as he does in art history and physics. If you don't like math much, these sections can be a slog.
>>13920137
He describes Spinoza as belonging to Magian civilization even though he lived in the West because he was raised in a Portuguese Sephardic community in Amsterdam. For a whole variety of reasons, Jewish communities in the West have historically been relatively insular. It's a lot like growing up in a Chinatown. You may be in touch with the broader community that surrounds Chinatown, but you still eat Chinese food daily, speak a Chinese dialect at home, and burn joss papers for your ancestors instead of going to Mass on Sundays. If he were adopted by a Dutch family as small child, he would have been Faustian. If Rembrandt were adopted by a Sephardic Jewish family as a small child, he would have been Magian. It's not a race thing; it's a culture thing. If a Korean family adopts a Congolese baby and raises them no different from a Korean child, then the child is culturally Korean. They would be of Congolese descent and perhaps would have some difficulty fitting in because they look different from their peers, but at the end of the day would be speaking Korean, holding Korean cultural values, and eating Korean food. Korea would be their home, Koreans their countrymen, and Congo a faraway place.

[Anonymous No.13920762]

>>13919658
It’s really a long read mate, make sure you are ready for it so you don’t have to re-read it.

[Anonymous No.13921313]

>>13919658
No but you need to immediately read Toynbee afterwards.