Sunday, August 2, 2015

What Do I Like Best About Korzybski: A Biography?

A Brazilian correspondent contacted me through the message board of my Academia.edu page and asked:
Q: About your book, Korzybski: A Biography, what do you like best about it??? 

Regards,
V. S. 


A: What I like best about my biography of Korzybski? Hard to pick just one aspect. For one thing, my wife and I and only a few other people are in Korzybski's direct lineage of student-practitioners. There has been much dilution and distortion of his teachings and I did my best to present those teachings in their fullness and with the widest context I could. GS is not actually focused on language as many people think, but is more concerned with human reaction/evaluation and primarily the study of self. I wanted to do honor to my teachers—and the great teacher Alfred —and I believe I did that without making him into a saint. He was a great man but a man for all that and he had foibles and flaws as we all do. I feel I represented his life in the best way possible.

As well, I'm proud of the book, not only as a documentation of Korzybski's work and how it developed but also as a lively and interesting narrative. With that book, I came of age as a writer.

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