Hope and Memory: Lessons from the Twentieth CenturyPrinceton University Press, 2003 - 337 pagini Both a political history and a moral critique of the twentieth century, this is a personal and impassioned book from one of Europe's most outstanding intellectuals. Identifying totalitarianism as the major innovation of the twentieth century, Tzvetan Todorov examines the struggle between this system and democracy and its effects on human life and consciousness. Totalitarianism managed to impose itself because, more than any other political system, it played on people's need for the absolute: it fed their hope to endow life with meaning by taking part in the construction of a paradise on earth. As a result, millions of people lost their lives in the name of a higher good. While democracy eventually won the struggle against totalitarianism in much of the world, democracy itself is not immune to the pitfall of do-goodery: moral correctness at home and atomic or "humanitarian" bombs abroad. Todorov explores the history of the past century not only by analyzing its spectacular political conflicts but also by offering moving profiles of several individuals who, at great personal cost, resisted the strictures of the communist and Nazi regimes. Some--Margarete Buber-Neumann, David Rousset, Primo Levi, and Germaine Tillion--were deported to concentration camps. Others--Vasily Grossman and Romain Gary--fought courageously in World War II. All became exemplary witnesses who described with great lucidity and humanity what they had endured. This book preserves the memory of the past as we move into the twenty-first century--arguing eloquently that we must place the past at the service of a just future. |
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... evil against good . Such terms , while they have high emotive power , are poor tools for description . Wars are often conducted in the name of noble ideals , and fanaticism has always been with us . Nor can we say that what is new about ...
... evil intentions - has the disadvantage of leaving a great deal of room for subjective appreciation . The aggressor justifies his action by claiming to feel threatened : history is rife with examples xvii PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION.
... evil can ever be achieved . Only millenarist heretics and revolutionary utopians have ever maintained such an illusion . " Freedom " will never com- pletely overcome its " foes " because the human race itself represses and undermines ...
... evil has now vanished from Europe ( though it lingers on in other continents ) , even if its legacy can still be felt . What I want to explore in this book are the lessons we can draw from the great twentieth - century conflict between ...
... evil - has one immediate consequence . We have to give up the idea , so dear to many great minds of previous ages , that progress is a contin- uous and cumulative process . Totalitarianism was a novelty , and it was worse than what went ...
Alte ediții - Afișează-le pe toate
Hope and Memory: Lessons from the Twentieth Century Tzvetan Todorov,Cvetan Todorov Previzualizare limitată - 2016 |
Hope and Memory: Lessons from the Twentieth Century Tzvetan Todorov Nu există previzualizare disponibilă - 2003 |
Hope and Memory: Reflections on the Twentieth Century Tzvetan Todorov Nu există previzualizare disponibilă - 2005 |
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Where Have All the Soldiers Gone?: The Transformation of Modern Europe James J. Sheehan Nu există previzualizare disponibilă - 2008 |