Product Description

A Study of the Play-Element in Culture

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #27555 in Books
• Published on: 1971-06-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Language Notes
Text: English, German (translation)

Customer Reviews

An Interesting, Although Marred Reflection on the Play Impulse
Huizinga's text on the nature of the play impulse in man and as a formative principle for culture is indeed interesting but suffers from the myopic view that can occur when one places too much importance on a single factor in humanity. While I approach this from a theological perspective, I think that it is true of any topic. Huizinga does not reduce man to merely a playing being but does indeed develop this tendency highly, giving it central importance to culture, something which is ultimately related to the cult of the people involved.

With respect to this, Huizinga views the cult as profoundly influenced by the play-impulse of man. While this definitely has truth in it and also binds his thesis of play and culture together by means of an intermediary of cult, it is incomplete insofar as it ascribes primacy to an impulse which is only part of the unifying drive of humanity. This lack of consideration of the importance of other aspects of man leads Huizinga to often wax passionately for some primordial period of joyful playfulness which was wholly amoral. Because of his combination of play and the agonal (something with which I partially agree, although not entirely), he provides fodder for relativistic views of the world which view power as the ultimate determining factor in human life instead of Truth, Justice, and Love.

With this negative assessment in mind, Homo Ludens does explore important relationships between the ludic and agonal principles in human action. By looking at these with respect to the whole of human culture, Huizinga sheds light on many varied aspects of play and its essential nature. Indeed, his understanding of the importance of agonal action allows him to more fully integrate play with culture and cultural entities such as mythology, art, and philosophy. Because of this very positive contribution to the understanding of the play impulse, I still recommend this text with the caveats stated above.

"No one is more serious than children at their games" Montaigne
The search for the essence of our humanity has led thinkers to time and again single out one aspect of our complex nature. We are 'the talking creature' and we are the 'rational being' and we are 'the fabricator' and maker of worlds. We are the creature 'made in the image of God" and the only one capable of
'imitato dei'. And we are also 'homo ludens' the creature for whom play is at the essence of our being .
Huizinga may be too much of a generalist for many today, but he has a great perception and he elaborates and investigates it in an insightful way.
" If we cannot play we cannot begin to be fully human"

Essential
I'm sure the translation is as poor as everyone says, but for God's sake, this is one of only three or four absolutely essential twentieth-century books on the history of games and gaming. It's insightful and humorous even in English, so just imagine how good it is in Dutch. Along with Murray, Bell, Conway, et al, this is a necessary assignment for anyone who wants to talk about the subject. Five stars. Five! Five! Five!