Open Secrets / Inward Prospects: Reflections on World and Soul

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In her latest book, Eva Brann has collected observations and aphorisms written over more than thirty years. Open Secrets / Inward Prospects divides in a rough but ready way into two sorts: observations about our external world well known to all but not always openly told, and sightings of internal vistas and omens, wherein she looks at herself as a sample soul.

Often the aphorisms balance opposing thoughts, as if the writer were—simultaneously—on both ends of the seesaw.

In the preface Eva Brann describes her manner of composition: "I wrote these thoughts down on about two thousand sheets, two to three thoughts per paper, and I kept them in some used manila envelopes, the earliest of which bore a postmark of 1972."

Eva Brann is a member of the senior faculty at St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland, where she has taught for over fifty years. She is a recipient of the National Humanities Medal. Her other books include The Logos of Heraclitus, Feeling Our Feelings, Homage to Americans, The Music of the Republic, Un-Willing, Then and Now, and Homeric Moments (all published by Paul Dry Books).


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April 17,2025
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I've now read this twice. Some of the aphorisms still seem like gobbledygook, but less so the second time. It's a little cutesy, and that seems to be what's turned off most of the people I've talked to. But many of the maxims are startlingly good, and if it is cutesy on the whole, than it is cuteseyness of the highest possible level. Very quotable too.
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