My thanks to NetGalley and Penguin for an eARC of this new translation of a seminal work of the 20th Century. A bit odd to be offered it now, and as an ARC, as it seems it was first published in 2023. ?????
A book I first read 50 years ago as an undergraduate. I did not "understand" it then, and I don't now either - but the opening and closing "propositions" have always stayed with me.
"The World is all that happens to be the case."
"What cannot be said must be left in silence."
But, as 50 years ago, while I did not comprehend this short, declarative book, that does not mean I did not gain anything from reading it.
The individuals involved in this new translation come at it in a new manner. They are artists, poets, and translators, and treat the document as such. Listing examples of Wittgenstein's influence on modern art itself. But also comparing the short, declarative assertions to Imagist poetry and haiku (which works particulalry well with his "picture theory"). And they provide an example (the first few lines of the book) how the propostions often read like poetry (slight rhymes,, repitition of sounds).
Jan Zwicky's Introduction is particularly helpful here, treating the text as both an example of art, as well as of philosophy. Translator Alexander Booth continues on with both of those approaches in his own short Preface..
Issues - there are no Notes to the text itself. OTOH, that may have ended up making the book 4 times as long! 4 times? Maybe 10 times!
There is no Bibliography, although Zwicky's extensive Notes to her Introduction acts as one to some extent.
They did not include Russell's Introduction - which would have been helpful, even if Wittgenstein did not care for it.
Booth states tha he does not view this as a replacement for previous translations, but as a helpful alternative. Which, kind of does not make sense.
More than a century after its first publication (the only book Wittgenstein published in his lifetime) there are numerous readings and interpretations of this text. No reader is going to completely understand it, and reveal to the rest of us the "true meaning" of the text. So, take Booth and Zwicky's advice, and read it slowly and thoughfully - but do not spend too much time and effort on it. Read it as an work of art.
4 out of 5. My rating is base on the edition itself, rather than on the original work. Which is a 5 out of 5, and a necessary read for any thoughtful person today, It is OK not to "get it", and to be frustrated while reading it. Just move along.