The Gift
Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property
by Lewis Hyde · first published 1983
50% recommend50% neutral
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.
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I've been reading a great book called "The Gift" by Lewis Hyde about just this difference in feeling. Like you seemed to intuit, giving is very different from trading. Beautiful OP as well.
on “Today you, tomorrow me ” ↗The Gift: Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property (1983) by Lewis Hyde. It is not only a powerful deconstruction of the creative process, but it details the history of relationships between gift/craft and…
on “Ask HN: What are the books that changed the perspective of your life?” ↗…Well worth reading. For very different perspectives on programming, check out Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programming (read it a decade ago and I use techniques from there every day.) The Gift by Lewis Hyde. Although directed at artists, it is highly relevant to creative programmers and the phenomenon of open source. He is able to articulate things which are very hard to talk about, like the…
on “Ask HN: What is the most mind blowing book you've ever read?” ↗…Your friend can have the same record and yet ... it is different. There is something special about having an analog night -- putting on the record player and reading a book. [1]: https://www.amazon.com/Gift-Imagination-Erotic-Life-Property...
on “Tom Hanks on Typewriters” ↗I can say very little about the books referenced, but one comment struck me as perhaps having wider applicability: > Hyde, who published [The Gift] in 1983, helped me understand that gift exchanges were much more important than economists and cultural historians lead us to believe. In particular, I gradually came to grasp that talented musicians…
on “Books That Changed How I Hear Music” ↗Lewis Hyde writes in his 1979 book The Gift about the roots of our modern word “genius”: the Latin genius, or what the ancient Greeks call your daemon. Today we use these words for a select type that we elevate above ourselves: “he’s a genius.”…
on “The Latin root “genius” and making your work into a gift” ↗