Starting with the premise that the work of art is a gift and not a commodity, this revolutionary book ranges across anthropology, literature, economics, and psychology to show how the 'commerce of the creative spirit' functions in the lives of artists and in culture as a whole.

Average Customer Review: ( 14 customer reviews )
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.

The reader was attempting to pinpoint a distinction of spirit that we recognize but can't define. Lewis Hyde confronts this problem as he tries to explain the difference between schlock and art. It is the dilemma that so vexed Potter Stewart as he tried to define pornography-"I know it when I see it, but I can't say what it is." Like Potter Stewart, Hyde can give examples, but no explanation. Hyde, however, is too game for surrender in the face of the ineffable.

Hyde starts with a hypothesis: Art acquires a spiritual quality that comes from a giving heart, And a corollary: The spiritual quality of art is lost if disrespected by the recipient. Hyde hypothesizes that the artist, recipient of an unearned talent from a giving god, must share it in turn with a giving heart. (Does this mean art cannot be sold? Oops, we're getting ahead ... .)

In seven chapters, two questions predominate: What is the spiritual quality that differentiates gifts from non-gifts ("commodities" in Hyde's parlance)? And, what is the nature of the disrespect that will so profane the gift as to nullify it? Here are some of his suggestions.

Gifts are not-as some suppose-without strings. (Forget flowers or a `thank you' to Aunt Sally, you'll see.) Rather, gifts and commodities differ because gifts are ambiguous and variable as to value. First, gifts and their reciprocals may not be equivalent in price, but it is bad manners to compare. (One does not "look a gift horse in the mouth." Right? "It is the thought that counts." Right? See, you already know this stuff.) And second, although the price of a gift may be low, the "thought that counts" (the spirit of the gift) causes a gift to increase in value as it is passed along. Aunt Sally gives you a frayed scrap of lace your grandmother and she both wore at their weddings. It is tattered, yet, from one generation to the next, each exchange has enhanced its value. Later, you send fudge to Aunt Sally. She invites friends to share and brags about your thoughtfulness. Lousy stale resort fudge, it may be awful, but it is bad manners to say so. It is the fact that these tokens came as gifts that gives them value.

Ambiguity and variability mean gifts, literally, do "keep on giving". In a commodity exchange, I trade corn, you trade tomatoes, we agree on equivalent values, we exchange, we are quit. In a gift exchange inequivalencies of price together with increases in value leave a residuum, an indefiniteness of obligation that binds both parties to future transactions. We have not balanced our account; we are not quit. We have a continuing duty to make future exchanges to extend the longer-term relationship.

Reciprocity creates gift circles. Where the circle is greater than two, a gift to one is a proxy gift to all. Thus, when Aunt Sally invites you to stay, she may not think her son will one day come stay with you, but when he does, your gift to him is a reciprocal gift to Aunt Sally as well. Every gift enhances the bonds with all whom we perceive to be within the circle.

Disrespect of a gift weakens our sense of community with the one who disrespects it. This is true on the level of mundane-when Uncle Henry skips family Christmas for a cruise with country club friends-and the sublime-when we perceive that others devalue divine gifts. For instance, why is society uncomfortable with sales of kidneys? Why is society uncomfortable with slavery? Do sales of people and parts profane what others believe to be a gift? Why is post-modern society so uncomfortable with pornography and prostitution? Does commercialization profane something that many believe is a gift between partners? Why are emotions so high in the debates on abortion, euthanasia and the death penalty? Do the objectors believe these actions profane a gift?

Hyde uses the themes from the first seven chapters to devise a theory of literary criticism that he applies to Walt Whitman and Ezra Pound. Like some of the other reviewers, I did not feel that the theory's application was as engaging as its development. It seems to work better with Whitman. This is in part because Whitman's effusive spirituality lends itself to discussions of the artist as medium, but I may also be influenced by the fact that I am stingier with appreciation of Pound. Hyde, himself, admits that by the time he has completed his proofs he is no longer as convinced of his premise as he was at the outset. He acknowledges that art may be sold in some circumstances and does not always become profaned thereby.

Though the theory's application is perhaps not successful in the way Hyde hoped it would be, still, the book is a stunning work. It succeeds in so many ways that a copy (with marginal notes) resides permanently on the topmost select shelf in my non-lending library. I keep copies on hand to give to friends.

Frankly, first time through, this book was difficult. Hyde is a poet, first and after all, and each paragraph is dense with meaning, so I read it in small bites with careful digestion in between. He uses words (`erotic' and `copulative' come to mind) in ways that are so far removed from modern usage as to be confusing at first. But take the time; make the effort. This book is a gift to all of us. It would be churlish not to appreciate it.

50 of 54 found the following review helpful:

Why isn't this a classic?Aug 30, 1998
By D. Bannister
In many aspects this is an exceptional book. It not only discusses the history of gift in culture but through the work of Walt Whitman and Ezra Pound it discusses the gift in poetry and art as well. The book focuses on the importance of gift, the flow and movement of gift, and the impact that the modern market place has had on the circle of gift.

From the opening pages when Hyde amuzingly discloses the premise of gift by juxtaposing the Indian Giver with White Man Keeper, the book progresses gift through community, folktale and art.

If you have ever been dismayed by the modern or postmodern. If you have ever wanted to make your money, cash out and leave the madness, you should read this book. Not only does it give you hope, it may rejunvenate your idea of community.

Gift is a tremendous piece of scholarship and for it to lay, largely undiscovered, is a shame indeed.

35 of 37 found the following review helpful:

An unusually memorable book.Jan 25, 1999
By Fred Leason
I read this more than five years ago. It is scholarly but well written. When I finished it, I wondered how practical it would be. In the last five years, I have thought about it several times. I cannot say that about 90% of the books I have read.

I believe it is a good example of "history of ideas" literature. It is a deconstruction of the notion of economics and commerce. By focusing on the narrow subject of gift giving, it opens the window to a critical understanding of common ideas like "interest," "usury," and "economic community." After all, what makes up a global economy? How do people bind themselves to "beliefs" that enable cooperation.

The book is not prescriptive. Instead, it is provocative to the extent that it challenges assumptions. I recommend it to the reader who is looking for an intellectual escape into the historically possible.

10 of 11 found the following review helpful:

The other half of economicsApr 30, 2004
By James Sterling "khasidi"
The first essay in this compilation of three is one of those pieces that can potentially change a person's life. Any student of the social sciences becomes aware that there are many important exchanges made in society which are not and cannot be valued in market transactions. Hyde offers a thoughtful analysis of the social function of goods and services exchanged outside the structure of the market. These arguments are essential as a counterbalance to the positivism expressed in most economic thought today.

A good deal of the material from which Hyde draws can be found in Marcel Mauss's book, also called in English, *The Gift* (Essai sur le don). Anybody who has loved Hyde's book will want to read Mauss's as well.

7 of 8 found the following review helpful:

Inspiring and full of lifeJan 28, 2001
By Willem Noe "scorpio-1"
I read this book on the recommendation of a dear friend of mine, and after reading it i can understand why she recommended it. This philosophic and poetic book deals with a very important facet of human lives and societies that is all too often overlooked in economic analyis, namely the act of giving where no market is involved. This book is not your usual and often too facile critique of the market economy. The latter gets its proper due but not only in a negative sense; after all, market economic systems generate goods and choices in a particular area of scarcity in more efficient ways than tried out on other systems. Yes, it is certainly true, as the author points out, that the social act and economics of the commodity exchange is something else entirely than the social act of giving outside of the market economy, and both the analyis and implications in the book make that deservedly clear. As an economist i found the discussion on usury and the different categories of values that can be atttached to a product very interesting and basic. At the same time, I had not yet encountered such an interesting discussion on the act of giving as part of a society and the linkages with a commodity producing market economy. And as a person taking part of society I found the discussion on the creative act of giving and the trace of social bonds this engenders inspiring on a personal level as well. The writer here mixes analysis with what is for me enlightening poetic language, and the role of the artist here is also well put. As other reviewers, I found the first part very interesting while the further discussion on Whitman and Pound was harder going. Although certainly not always an easy read as a scholarly study, I can certainly recommend this unusual book on the abundance and generosity of spirit that living in society can bring, as a conscious act with magic of inspiration.

See all 14 customer reviews on Amazon.com