Filosofía en el jardín

Plato taught while walking and his Academy was in a sacred grove. Aristotle gave his talks in a park and his school, the Lyceum, was named for its shady grove of trees. Educated Romans flocked to the gardens to talk and study. Gardens can comfort, calm and uplift, but they can also bewilder and provoke, and this is the philosophical value that has been perpetuated into the contemporary era. This fascinating work explores the intimate relationship of great historical figures -among others, Proust, Rousseau, Orwell or Dickinson- with plants, trees and flowers that they loved so much (and sometimes hated so much) and reveals the deep thoughts that were carried out while fresh air. Jane Austen sought the solace of perfection between the Philadelphus and the peony in her cottage. Leonard Woolf's frozen apple trees suggested just the opposite: a glimpse of the precarious brutality of the world. The scandalous French author Colette discovered contemplative peace in roses. Years later, Jean-Paul Sartre described the nausea caused by a chestnut: an existentialist cry that united a generation. Gardens are a manifestation of nature as well as a metaphor for human nature, hence its philosophical essence and the beauty of this book.