The Swerve

The Swerve: How the World Became Modern by Stephen Greenblatt
published by W.W. Norton 2011

“The Swerve” is a tale of Lucretius’ Latin masterpiece On the Nature of Things; its loss and rediscovery by Italian book hunter Poggio Bracciolini. The title comes from Lucretius’ idea that the atoms which make up our world continually combine, divide, form and reform in a random swerve. Whether this theory and Lucretius’ poem spawned the modern world, or even the Renaissance, Greenblatt never fully establishes. What he does do however is provide a riveting account of On the Nature of Things creation, popularity, repression and rebirth.

Wonderfully engaging, Greenblatt’s theory begins with the Roman thinker Epicurus. Epicurus’ belief that everything in existence, from celestial bodies to the lowliest of creatures, is made of indestructible tiny building blocks called atoms is the heart of Lucretius’ poem. The notion of atoms spawned the theory that a hidden natural order ruled the universe, not divine beings. What Epicurus taught and what philosophers like Lucretius believed was that this concept freed people from fear of the unknown and allowed them to pursue the highest good, pleasure.

Greenblatt follows Lucretius’ poem through its popularity among the Roman elite to its suppression by Christian fundamentalists and its eventual rediscovery in a remote German monastery. Throughout this journey he reveals the glamorous world of Herculaneum, follows the downfall of Alexandrian intellectual life, exposes the sufferings of monks, and examines the wonderful art of book making until he arrives at the papal court and the rise of humanists like Poggio Bracciolini.

A pleasure to read and much less academic than might be expected, Greenblatt engages the reader from the beginning and consistently dazzles with intellectual insight. The “cynical, competitive court” in which Poggio is employed and which houses numerous corrupt and scandalous popes as well as back-stabbing apostolic secretaries, would be worthy of any HBO dramatic series.

He may never prove that On the Nature of Things spawned the modern world, but the fact that Galileo, Freud, Darwin, Einstein and Thomas Jefferson all admired the poem may be proof enough for some. Greenblatt, for his part, certainly makes an entertaining and educational effort. “The Swerve” is worthwhile reading for anyone interested in Roman or Christian history, philosophy, humanism or literature.