superdilettante's review against another edition
4.0
Meandered a bit in the middle, but ultimately a very important read that solidified how I feel about some of the inspirations I've been given.
cheerssteph's review against another edition
4.0
Very interesting book on gift giving and gift culture in relation to the arts.
rgfred's review against another edition
2.0
I wanted to love this, and still find the premise of it extremely valuable. I listened to the audiobook, which may have been of an earlier edition, and did not include the forward by Margaret Atwood copyrighted in 2012 (but did include the preface to the 3rd edition by the author copyrighted in 2019?). Either way, the book's most recent edition is more palatably titled "The Gift: How the Creative Spirit Transforms the World." There were parts of the book I loved. Tidbits of history I devoured, to be sure, particularly in the first half of the book. But the chapters in the second half felt like an extensive comparison of two poets (Walt Whitman and Ezra Pound), and by the end of these chapters I could not decide if I was bored out of my mind or outraged by the romanticizing of these men, who I'd known little about before. The chapter on Pound was particularly infuriating, as the author expounds on the nature of Pound's deep antisemitism, repeating large swaths of quoted hate speech with little relief to remind the reader that he was not speaking for himself. The chapter ends with a brief anecdote about how Ezra Pound, at the end of his life, regretted the damage his racist and antisemitic political rhetoric had caused in the years that he had broadcast it, but the amount of time he'd spent relaying the colorful details of that speech, all in the supposed service of art and gift exchange, made this feel of little significance to the author.
Aside from this, the writing style felt at times so incredibly academic and removed that the poetic spirit of the content (at least as I had hoped to find it) was completely lost to the author's apparently superior intellect. Which is ironic, given the assertion of art as gift and therefore more accessible, freer of barrier, to the recipient. Perhaps I am misunderstanding something the author meant to be obviously important in the main claim of the book. Again, there were parts I found interesting, but they were too rare in the entirety to make it redeemable, in this reader's opinion.
Aside from this, the writing style felt at times so incredibly academic and removed that the poetic spirit of the content (at least as I had hoped to find it) was completely lost to the author's apparently superior intellect. Which is ironic, given the assertion of art as gift and therefore more accessible, freer of barrier, to the recipient. Perhaps I am misunderstanding something the author meant to be obviously important in the main claim of the book. Again, there were parts I found interesting, but they were too rare in the entirety to make it redeemable, in this reader's opinion.
nwisnoski's review against another edition
4.0
I expected this book to be more reflective of its subtitle: "Creativity and the Artist in the Modern World" (if you have the 25th Anniv. Ed.), but as a sociological study of the gift cycle recounted via anthropological narratives, medieval church history, myths/fables, and two case-studies devoted to Whitman and Pound, Hyde's book was a complete success.
Hyde suggests that gifts have worth in their perpetual movement and therefore exist in an economy separate from the commodity-driven market, which accounts for the value disparity between arts/pure sciences and business/finance/et al., and any commodification of gifts effectively withdraws them from the gift economy.
I found the first half of the book to be particularly interesting with respect to academic publishing and the accessibility of knowledge (esp. knowledge gained via public/gov funding). Academic pursuits operate within a gift economy similar to that of the arts community, yet most academic publishers charge exorbitant prices for access to their journals (read: commodification). In the new afterward by the author, Hyde touches on the recent open science initiative of PLoS and others, but this could also extend to the arts (e.g., free Pandora/Spotify vs physical media, e-books of public domain books vs print copies, and films uploaded to streaming video sites).
His portrait of Whitman was very compelling (the interspersed passages from Leaves of Grass were absolutely gorgeous and moved Whitman's work higher up on my reading list). The following section on Pound was slightly less successful in my opinion. Re: my critique regarding the subtitle, the first real instance of Hyde addressing "the Modern World" occurs in the conclusion, but the conclusion is quite effective overall.
If you're at all interested in the history of gift-giving and its implications for art and science (among other things), The Gift is highly affecting and will indeed change your outlook on how these two economies (gift and market) operate.
Hyde suggests that gifts have worth in their perpetual movement and therefore exist in an economy separate from the commodity-driven market, which accounts for the value disparity between arts/pure sciences and business/finance/et al., and any commodification of gifts effectively withdraws them from the gift economy.
I found the first half of the book to be particularly interesting with respect to academic publishing and the accessibility of knowledge (esp. knowledge gained via public/gov funding). Academic pursuits operate within a gift economy similar to that of the arts community, yet most academic publishers charge exorbitant prices for access to their journals (read: commodification). In the new afterward by the author, Hyde touches on the recent open science initiative of PLoS and others, but this could also extend to the arts (e.g., free Pandora/Spotify vs physical media, e-books of public domain books vs print copies, and films uploaded to streaming video sites).
His portrait of Whitman was very compelling (the interspersed passages from Leaves of Grass were absolutely gorgeous and moved Whitman's work higher up on my reading list). The following section on Pound was slightly less successful in my opinion. Re: my critique regarding the subtitle, the first real instance of Hyde addressing "the Modern World" occurs in the conclusion, but the conclusion is quite effective overall.
If you're at all interested in the history of gift-giving and its implications for art and science (among other things), The Gift is highly affecting and will indeed change your outlook on how these two economies (gift and market) operate.
chairmanbernanke's review against another edition
4.0
The sections on gifts and gift-giving are quite good. Discussions of money weren’t, and seemed not to grasp the critical quality of it.
patrickkanouse's review against another edition
4.0
A fascinating read. Hyde explores the nature of gift economy and then tries to place the artist's role as a gift producer within the market economy. The first half of the book explores the essentials and functions of the gift economy using folktales as indicators of symbol and cultural value as well as using anthropological studies of some Polynesian, native peoples, etc.
The second half of the book is a prolonged study of Walt Whitman and Ezra Pound and their view of their art within the larger market economy. Well worth the read.
The second half of the book is a prolonged study of Walt Whitman and Ezra Pound and their view of their art within the larger market economy. Well worth the read.
libkatem's review against another edition
3.0
It was interesting; it covers the importance of gifts in various societies, and the importance of gifts in folklore and fairy tales.
illuscat's review against another edition
5.0
I love this discussion on the economy of gifts -- and the loss of community that comes with a super-capitalist society that turns even art (and writing) into commerce. Some of the religious and gender assumptions felt twenty years old, but then it is twenty years old. Could digital work be on the brink of turning into a gift again, with the advent of creative commons? I wonder--
mtthwkrl's review against another edition
5.0
Wow.
I will be thinking about the bold ideas in this book for days and months and years.
Reading the opening sections of the book as Lewis lays out his concepts of gift exchange, market exchange, the way that they parallel logos and eros, and the exploitation and life draining that can happen when different modes of exchange are used inappropriately electrified me. It was like finding out the proper name to a geographic feature that you have always known, but did not know this history of. There are ideas I read that have been deeply held in my being without being able to recognize their name or their logic.
I did not follow most of the critical writing on Whitman and Pound.
It's also made me think a lot about the futility of wishing for a context and time that is more friendly to art, and the importance of finding the new structures to support and patronize art in the present. Like with a person, there is usually less of a point to wishing they were different than the hard work of finding a way to coexist with them.
I will be thinking about the bold ideas in this book for days and months and years.
Reading the opening sections of the book as Lewis lays out his concepts of gift exchange, market exchange, the way that they parallel logos and eros, and the exploitation and life draining that can happen when different modes of exchange are used inappropriately electrified me. It was like finding out the proper name to a geographic feature that you have always known, but did not know this history of. There are ideas I read that have been deeply held in my being without being able to recognize their name or their logic.
I did not follow most of the critical writing on Whitman and Pound.
It's also made me think a lot about the futility of wishing for a context and time that is more friendly to art, and the importance of finding the new structures to support and patronize art in the present. Like with a person, there is usually less of a point to wishing they were different than the hard work of finding a way to coexist with them.