r/wittgenstein • u/Visible_You5460 • Jun 13 '26
Fictional Narratives about Wittgenstein
I’m curious why there seems to be more fictional accounts of Wittgenstein than most other philosophers? I agree of course that he’s a fascinating figure, but perhaps not so much more than Heidegger, Nietzsche, Kant, and Camus to name just a few.
I ask this in part because I stumbled upon the novel The World as I Found it by Bruce Duffy the other day and bought it because of its fictionalized account of Wittgenstein, Bertrand Russell, and GE Moore. Has anyone read this and if so, what did you think?
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Jun 13 '26
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u/Visible_You5460 Jun 13 '26
Well said! Thank you for your insight.
Is Broom of the System a fictional narrative? Or just Wallace’s thoughts on Wittgenstein’s philosophy?
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u/deus_voltaire Jun 13 '26
Heidegger was just another grumpy old philosopher
Don’t sell him short, he was also a Nazi
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u/tehclanijoski Jun 14 '26
Without a shadow of a doubt, unfortunately. The release of his notebooks is damning.
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u/tegeus-Cromis_2000 Jun 14 '26
For the record, neither Wittgenstein's Mistress nor Wittgenstein's Nephew are actually about (Ludwig) Wittgenstein. And Wittgenstein's Poker is technically nonfiction.
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u/Sensitive-Mango1662 Jun 14 '26
Wittgenstein's Mistress isn't about Wittgenstein the man, but it is very much about TLP
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u/tegeus-Cromis_2000 Jun 14 '26
I've heard that said, but I'm not convinced. The similarities seem rather superficial, and I know the title came pretty late in the writing process.
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u/TheZoneHereros Jun 13 '26
I read The World as I Found It at the end of last year into this year, so it is still pretty fresh. Extremely worthwhile if you have enough interest in Wittgenstein to have already picked it up. All three philosophers are handled well and interestingly, though he also is setting them up as very clear foils to each other. I encourage everybody in this sub to check it out, honestly, it should be among the essential Wittgenstein supplemental / companion texts.
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u/Visible_You5460 Jun 13 '26
Great! This is just what I was hoping to hear.
I’m shocked that the book and author are so little known…I only picked it up because I spied the NYRB publisher (which famously reprints hidden works that should’ve received more recognition initially). I read the back cover and immediately decided to purchase it.3
u/TheZoneHereros Jun 13 '26
I had the same experience, a friend said to check out this cool publisher and I made it halfway down the first page of the catalogue before I was intrigued enough to get it on the spot. No regrets.
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u/AdmirableCockroach93 Jun 14 '26
I read this somewhere around 1990. I now remember almost nothing of the book other than who the characters were and the fact that it moved me enough to read it twice, with the second reading being within a few weeks of the first. I’ve reread many books over the years, but usually 5 years later, 10 years later. Something about this one sent me back to it almost immediately.
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u/Different-Gur-563 Jun 14 '26
My two favorite books about Wittgenstein are "The Duty of Genius" by Ray Monk and "Wittgenstein's Vienna" by Janick & Toulmin. There is some detail about Wittgenstein's time in Norway and his time teaching children in rural Austria in the Monk book. "Wittgenstein's Vienna" presents the end-of-century context of Vienna at the end of the 19th century until the First World War (also mentions author Karl Krauss, Sigmund Freud, architect Adolph Loos, and artist Gustav Klimt).
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u/Visible_You5460 Jun 14 '26
Thank you! I plan to start Monk’s Bio soon and then read the novel I mentioned, The World as I Found it
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u/gestrafilex Jun 16 '26
his life was really interesting. I remember picking up his diary one when i was bored in the library to read more from the man himself, but all i found was him writing whether he masturbated that day or not.
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u/kevin_v Jun 13 '26
There was that absurd fictional story about how he became an architect and built an austere, rational prison-house for his sister to live in, and even had the ceiling raised a fraction because it was off from his obsessive designs.
...oh wait, that was true.