On the Pleasure of Hating
William Hazlitt's tough, combative writings on subjects ranging from slavery to the
imagination, boxing matches to the monarchy, established him as one of the greatest
radicals of his age and have inspired journalists and political satirists ever since.
Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we
see ourselves - and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution.
They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives - and
destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals
and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization, and helped make us who we are.
William Hazlitt was born in 1778 at Maidstone. His parents were
revolutionaries and intellectual deists familiar with the works of Priestley, Price and
Godwin. In 1783 the family emigrated to America, but they found life there disappointing
and returned to England in 1788, settling at Wem in Shropshire. Hazlitt rejected his
father's wish that he should become a Unitarian Minister, but in 1798 he heard Coleridge's
last sermon, which proved a turning-point in his career. Coleridge encouraged him to
pursue his interest in philosophy and Hazlitt later wrote several such works, including An
Essay on the Principles of Human Action (1805), An Abridgement of 'The Light of Nature
pursued by Abraham Tucker' (1807) and his great attack on Malthus, A Reply to the Essay on
Population (1807). Art was one of his greatest passions and his training in Paris left its
mark on his writing. Unlike his literary contemporaries, such as Wordsworth and Coleridge,
Hazlitt remained a radical all his life, and this commitment made him many enemies.
Much of his writing is ephemeral, but there is a body of literary and social criticism
which holds an important place in English literature. A great essayist, he handled a wide
range of styles, from the abstract and formal ideas in 'On Reason and Imagination' to the
colloquialism of 'The Fight'. In 1812 he became Parliamentary Reporter for the Morning
Chronicle and was soon filling its columns with essays on diverse subjects and brilliant
accounts of the London stage.
His collected essays from the Examiner, published under the title of The Round Table,
are a notable contribution to the literature of radical protest. In 1820 he began
submitting essays to the London Magazine, which were to become the first volume of Table
Talk (2 vols., 1821-2). In the same year he fell in love with a young girl, and this
disastrous period in his life is recounted in Liber Amoris. Hazlitt recovered and began
writing again, and in 1825 The Spirit of the Age was published. His last great task was
The Life of Napoleon Buonaparte (4 vols., 1828-30). William Hazlitt died in 1830
120 pages, Paperback