Schopenhauer’s biography (4 of 5): the years of disappointing success

Even for a genius like Arthur #schopenhauer (1788-1860), it’s far from self-evident to define success; the feeling of #achievement will wane fairly quickly if people are admiring you for reasons that have little to do with your life’s purpose. Schopenhauer started to experience #success in 1830. He was already forty-two years old and had spent decades in obscurity, despite his remarkable work. As of 1830, universities and other institutions started to invite Schopenhauer to give lectures, and journalists published some favourable articles about him. The articles did not clearly describe his #philosophy , but at least, they made people curious. Unfortunately, the truth is that, by 1830, only a few hundred people had read Schopenhauer’s masterpiece. I am referring to his book “The world as will and representation.” Schopenhauer had first published “The world as will and representation” in 1818, and revised and expanded it in 1828. He had mailed dozens of copies of the book to newspapers and magazines, asking them to review it, but few had done so. The demand for his lectures had convinced Schopenhauer that people were interested in his philosophy. He should have asked himself why they were not buying his books, but I guess that he was too proud to face the facts. If he had asked himself that question, he would have come to the realisation that people attended his lectures because they viewed him as a rarity. They felt attracted by the novelty effect, not because of a genuine interest in Schopenhauer’s ideas. Schopenhauer concentrated on pursuing success and tried to figure out how to get people to read his books. He concluded that the size of his work “The world as will and representation” was too intimidating. Here is the link to the original article: https://johnvespasian.com/schopenhauers-biography-disappointing-success/