Welcome to the first installment of Holding History’s Bookbag: a biweekly series discussing the books - and the forms they take - that are getting us through the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. Today we talk to Ilango Villoth (English major, 2019 UW-Madison graduate, and former Holding History Peer Mentor) about his copy of Kierkegaard's philosophical novel Fear and Trembling. Kierkegaard, widely considered to be the first existentialist philosopher, wrote Fear and Trembling in 1843, under the pseudonym "Johannes de silentio" - or "John of the Silence." The novel dissects the story of Abraham, tasked by God to sacrifice his only son atop Mount Moriah, in an attempt to understand Abraham's anxiety and isolation on the journey there. Ilango is an NFL journalist and the author of two books, which are available for free on his website: https://www.ivilloth.com. Fear and Trembling is available through A Room of One's Own.
(Holding History): There are lots of ways to hold and read a book. Will you tell us about your tactile experience with Fear and Trembling?
(Illango): I have a badly abused Penguins Classic - probably about 30 years old - edition of Fear and Trembling. I am not one for preserving the book too well - I understand the importance of that for rare editions, but my books end up all bent and coffee stained. This one I’ve read mostly while on walks, so it’s got some of that going for it.
What attracted you to this book?
My project for quarantine was to go through all the things I’ve been putting off but need to get to before grad school - I realized I no longer have an excuse. This is the copy of Fear and Trembling I bought used at a bookstore without really looking into who’s translation it was or anything like that. I’ll try to read it multiple times with different translations, but this was the one on hand.
Describe your ideal reading experience (when, where, what, how).
I am a big proponent of reading outside, largely because if I’m in my house, with my laptop and tv, I’ll get distracted. I might make it through 10 pages, but not 30 plus. So I’ve been trying to find small trails or neighborhoods that don’t have much traffic, if any, going through them. Places where I’m not at risk of crashing into anything, and I will just sort of zone out with my head buried in the book and walk forward. In Madison, I would often walk into traffic.
Would you give Fear and Trembling as a gift (and to whom)?
I feel like this sends a bit of a message if you give it as a gift [laugh]. A fundamental existential philosophy - If I received that as a gift I’d wonder what this person perceives being wrong with me. I think I would. I have a relative in India who teaches a lot of philosophy, but I know that he’s sometimes been annoyed with the process of ordering different translations from overseas and the difficulties of getting them back to our small town in Karula.
Favorite idea or quotation from Fear and Trembling?
Essentially it’s all about the story of Abraham and the Bible, and sort of his idea of reading into it with as much perceived or supposed depth of it as possible, and what you can get out of it that way. I’m finding that incredibly interesting as a way of approaching every text. It’s really nice - if you approach these stories as if they have all of the meaning possible in the world, and you dig that deep into them, you end up finding much more interesting things than if you’re quick to write them off.
Favorite character, object, inhabitant, landscape?
Unfortunately, picking a philosophical text doesn’t help that question too much. Kierkegaard often goes back to this idea of how important it is to remember Abraham’s journey to the Moriah, the big mountain, how it takes three days and how he would have been totally alone - you have to imagine the isolated landscapes he would have seen, just him and Isaac, and how you have to put yourself in his frame of mind. Which was never something I’ve considered about that story.
Imagine going to a rare books archive and finding a few books that Fear and Trembling might converse with. What comes to mind right away?
Other philosophical writings from this era. I know very little about the idea of existentialism. People call this the first existential text. It’s hard for me to believe that’s true. It seems too thought-out and already formulated. So I’d like to see if there are any surviving copies of what sort of pamphlets were lying around at the time, or if anything else got preserved, what ideas were getting thrown around but haven’t made their way back back to our current consciousness.
About the Author & Project
"The Bookbag: What We're Reading...and How" is a biweekly series where we discuss books—and the forms they take—that are getting us through the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. The Bookbag is edited by Holding History Alum Sam Landowski, (Political Science, UW-Madison, graduated 2019). If you're interested in contributing, reach out to us at holdinghistory@wisc.edu.
As someone who works in theatre, I often work with adaptations where a playwright has taken a book that might take 20+ hours to read and distilled it down to a 90 minute to 2.5 hour play or musical. (Like how "HAMILTON: An American Musical" which is over 700 pages book by Ron Chernow was adapted into a 2 hour and 45 minute musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda and his team.) Switching storytelling mediums is a different kind of translation as the choices that the translator ( or adaptor) makes are amplified in different way and are also greater in number as cuts must be made. Thinking of "O, Brother, Where Art Thou" and "The Odyssey" and all of the adapt…
@Ryan, only this year did I finally get around to reading non-puritanical translations of Home and Dante! despite having a fairly good idea of what the changes would be, it was honestly incredibly revelatory.
Also, since reading P&V's Anna Karenina I've been trying my darnedest to work the expression "drink up one's trousers" into conversation
Ilango likes to read multiple translations of the same text. Open question to Ilango, Holding History members, professors, and all readers: what are some interesting tidbits you've found in different translations of texts?
Wonderful interview! I especially love the idea of gifting Fear and Trembling as a not-so-subtle message; a few frenemies might find copies in their stockings this year 😂.