All my life I have dreamed of retreat. Of letting go each responsibility and cutting every tie. And I know I’m not the only one. But, when I learnt about the creative figures who left their lives behind, I began to ask myself: what is gained and what is lost when we withdraw from the world?
To answer this question, Guy Stagg tells the story of three of the twentieth century’s most original minds: the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, the poet and painter David Jones, and the writer Simone Weil. All three went on retreat during times of crisis, to find their work and their lives changed for ever. Seeking to understand these experiences, Stagg follows Wittgenstein to the ancient monastery outside Vienna where he recovered from depression, sails to the isolated island off the Welsh coast where Jones discovered a new way to make art, and spends Lent at the forbidding French Abbey that sparked an epiphany in Weil’s thinking.
The World Within blends a moving personal account with history, biography and travel, offering a profound exploration of the impulse to withdraw. It asks why retreat still enchants people to this day and hints at how each one of us can find a sanctuary of our own.
‘An enjoyably written book on an important subject: whether it is good for an artist – or anyone else – to retreat from the world’
Christopher Howse, Daily Telegraph
‘In this intriguing book, Stagg identifies a number of reasons why these three figures pursued such radically different lives from most of us . . . In a relaxed and informative way, Stagg takes the reader to the places and religious houses associated with his three subjects, wondering at the back of his mind what withdrawal and retreat might mean for his own life. He is a close, attentive observer, and we get some excellent writing about places and people, with no false romanticism and some quite astringent realism . . . a readable book that looks at how three people tried to live at the extreme edge of the human spirit’
Richard Harries, Literary Review
‘Explores the lives of three 20th-century thinkers . . . Stagg visits the places where they found quiet solace in times of crisis and examines how their solitude influenced their work and genius . . . In an age riddled with noise and distraction, The World Within feels timely. It reminds us that silence and solitude are vital for self-discovery’
Press Association
‘A compelling and contemplative investigation into the nature of retreat, asking why writers and artists seek periods, or lives, in solitude. Like a detective, Stagg traces the routes of three 20th century figures, arriving at their former sanctuaries with a self-conscious curiosity, speaking to monks, immersing himself in landscapes, listening to the prayers and chants that sustained them. In the shadow of each story is the fractious political history of 20th century Europe – war and persecution – which deepens the book’s study, as does Stagg’s voice – candid, self-revelatory, scholarly and empathetic’
Hannah Lowe, Costa-prize winning author of The Kids
‘In this thrilling exploration of the complex nature of retreat and the ever-present allure of solitude, Guy Stagg carves out his own beautiful silences and transformations with prose as luminescent as his brilliantly inquisitive spirit’
Chloe Aridjis, author of Sea Monsters
'A luminous study. Guy Stagg penetrates as far as anyone can into the solitude of three geniuses in retreat and explores with elegance, erudition and honesty the strange territory of reclusion where emptiness and profundity meet.'
Adam Foulds, author of The Quickening Maze
‘At once lucid and provocatively mysterious, Stagg’s meditation on the interludes in which three of the last century’s most imaginative minds chose to step back from the world offers fresh insights into their creative trajectories – and valuable clues as to how we might renew our own inner lives’
George Prochnik, author of The Impossible Exile
‘The writing is beautiful and pure, the ideas sophisticated but simply said. More than anything, I love the emotional truth this book explores: the tension of wanting to participate in this world, but also retreat from it. In The World Within, Stagg is speaking to the paradox at the heart of the most meaningful journeys we might take’
Sophy Roberts, author of A Training School for Elephants