Fritz

fantastic.

Karimi captures both mood and depth in beautiful prose, discussing a difficult history Europe has with Afghani immigrants and the looking away during the country’s multiple crises

Great read.

A marvel. Sometimes a bit slow. But great. The writer tells the tale of Alkibiades an Ancient Greek politician, general and warrior.

Athens at the time is a democracy, but the democracy is under pressure from oligarchs, to populists and demagogues that move the power into a “tyranny of the masses”. Sound familiar 😬?

The great thing is that the writer is an expert in Ancient Greek and constructed a timeline from various original and derived sources to come to a form of a memoir.

Best quotes:

“Veel is verschrikkelijk, maar niets is verschrikkelijker dan de mens.”

“Onrecht begaan is erger dan onrecht ondergaan”

And a recurring set of phrases:

“Niets wat zonder gevaar wordt ondernomen, is eervol”.

“Geen man zal ooit een groot man zijn als hij niet ook een vrouw durft te zijn.”

Then the final piece that struck me was the love from a mother for her daughter but als the love for a lover and wife:

“De jaren waarin ik het voorrecht genoot haar man te zijn waren op de vingers van één hand te tellen, want zij heeft te kort geleefd, maar vanaf het moment waarop wij, enkele maanden na onze bruiloft, echt met elkaar trouwden door niet van elkaar te scheiden tot aan het droeve moment van haar dood heb ik geweten wat het betekent om een bondgenoot te hebben. In bed was zij mijn vrouw en overdag in huis was zij de moeder van mijn dochter, maar ik herinner haar vandaag de dag vooral als de kameraad, kornuit en wapenzuster, die ik als mijn gelijke mocht beschouwen zonder bang te zijn voor bijbedoelingen en verborgen agenda's, die kon lachen om dezelfde dingen als ik, die lachte om mij omdat zij mijn bedoelingen en ambities immer moeiteloos doorzag, die mij de verhalen van de helden en heldinnen uit het verleden vertelde wanneer ik mijzelf te belangrijk ging vinden, die mij derhalve zeer dikwijls verhalen vertelde over de helden en heldinnen uit het verleden, die mijn logica altijd versloeg met de syllogismen van haar ironie en die de kompaan en het klankbord was die ik tijdens mijn onwetende leven voor haar en tijdens mijn tumultueuze leven na haar vrijwel altijd heb ontbeerd.”

Perspectiefwissels. En heerlijk epische familiedrama’s

I really like Kingsnorth writing. It is visceral, palpable and riveting. But I'm not sure I got it this time. Or at least, if it has a point to it. Or if it's just watching the slow descent into madness of someone who believes himself to be a hermit. The first few pages were beautiful in any case.

To be open, to be in fear, to be aching with nothingness, to be lonely as the cold subsoil in winter, lonely as the last whale in the ocean, singing in bewilderment and no other answer for all of time.

This darkness.

This is the only life.

Lekker. Ryk Afrikaans mense wat probeer deal met hulle nonsens maar goed bewus is van die voorregte wat die wit Afrikanerskap gee

Best in the series. The wisdom of someone who has gone through a crisis of faith and has come out the other end without cynicism

Weird, and vulgar premise.. Did not want to go through, after the first 30 pages.

Not sure what to think. It wasn't particularly enjoyable to read. It felt like a Dostoyevski, but without character that had a certain charm or I could feel sympathy for.

I made it though and then read up about it. Apparently it was very influential and stood out because it was so different from other novels, being so isolated.

Entertaining

Leuk. Maar ook wel vast in nostalgie en karakters die niet verder denken dan hun neus lang is.

Waarom dacht NIEMAND er voor 5 jaar in Zuid Frankrijk te zijn waarom Icks ze daar naartoe gestuurd had.

Anyways. Mooi verhaal maar beetje flauw als einde

Very good.

Set in 70s Uganda it details a girl coming of age in a time where danger is everywhere and cultures are changing. Rural vs urban life. Loved it

Endearing. But it's like Friends. The premise isn't really all that exciting. It's enjoyable but also really predictable.

A fascinating book about a famous movie director who was part of the most tragic of generations. Having fought in the First World War you would think enough misery has been your portion. But to be a Jew in Germany after that was much worse.

The story revolves around these two tragic periods in Kurt Gerron's life. A tragic story about heartbreak, the improbable human capacity to endure. But also the insanity of the nearly bureaucratic murder machines of the two World Wars

A wonderful essay on the nature of freedom, of becoming oneself in a society that does nothing else then serve itself. A bureaucracy that makes it impossible to live “in truth” with oneself.
This obviously has a very real bureaucracy in mind: The Soviet Union of the late 70's. But still remains relevant.

In responding to both the “West” and the “bloc” Vaclav encourages everyone to live “within the truth”.

The example he uses for a large part of the book is a greengrocer that receives a poster from the state that says: Workers around the world unite! The point he makes is that the greengrocer hangs this up above the storefront out of habit, not because he agrees with the statement, or has thought about what that would look like if the workers unite.
But in the world of the post-totalitarian regime of the Soviet he “ought” to do this. Now if he starts to think about it and refuses to hang this up, because he decides to live in the lie no longer, there is now a small revolt on the small scale.

Inevitably a regime like this must fall. Because it can't sustain original thought, or people freely expressing themselves. And that will cause conflict, be it open conflict (protest, revolt, or violence) or hidden conflict (meetings, congresses, sharing of pamphlets, educating each other)

While the Soviet Union is long gone. The critique goes further than just that of Soviet politics. It also appeals to democratic societies that are being subdued or “drugged” or kept busy in the Brave New World sense. Are we living “in the truth” or “in the lie” in our own societies.

In a quotation from Patoçka, Havel says: the thing with responsibility is, that you carry it around wherever you go.

There is a lot more to say about the nature of technology and the “automatism”. But I'll leave it at this:
It is of great importance that the main thing - the everyday, thankless, and never-ending struggle of human beings to live more freely, truthfully, and in quiet dignity - never imposes any limits on itself, never be half-hearted, inconsistent, never trap itself in political tactics, speculating on the outcome of its actions or entertaining fantasies about the future. The purity of this struggle is the best guarantee of optimum results.




P.S. Some other interesting bits:
Our attention, therefore, inevitably turns to the most essential matter: the crisis of contemporary technological society as a whole, the crisis that Heidegger describes as the ineptitude of humanity face to face with the planetary power of technology.
Technology - that child of modern science, which in turn is a child of modern metaphysics - is out of humanity's control, has ceased to serve us, has enslaved us and compelled us to participate in the preparation of our own destruction.

It would appear that the traditional parliamentary democracies can offer no fundamental opposition to the automatism of technological civilization and the industrial-consumer society, for they, too, are being dragged helplessly along by it. People are manipulated in ways that are infinitely more subtle and refined than the brutal methods used in the post-totalitarian societies. But this static complex of rigid, conceptually sloppy and politically pragmatic mass political parties run by professional apparatuses and releasing the citizen from all forms of concrete and personal responsibility; and those complex foci of capital accumulation engaged in secret manipulations and expansion; the omnipresent dictatorship of consumption, production, advertising,

Fascinating. Horrifying. Well written. And sadly all true events.

Prachtige inleiding op een prachtig oeuvre.

Wat mij denk ik het meest aanspreekt is de “sprong” die iedereen uitgedaagd wordt om te maken. Maar daarvoor moet ik misschien iets van context geven.

Iedereen heeft te maken met paradoxen, elke dag in allerlei situaties. Bijvoorbeeld dat van de mogelijkheid of de eindigheid (in de woorden van Kierkegaard). De mogelijkheid beschrijft bijvoorbeeld dat ik ben wie ik ben, maar ik heb kunnen kiezen over alles wat ik ben. De eindigheid beschrijft mij vanuit de context van mijn opvoeding, de dingen die ik mee heb gemaakt en verklaart dat ik een product ben van deze situaties, locatie en omstandigheden.

Maar om in één van deze kanten vast te blijven zitten noemt Kierkegaard “vertwijfeling”. Hier is het juist relevant om de “sprong” aan te gaan en in vertrouwen beiden uiteinden te omarmen en daarmee te leven. Ja ik ben het product van mijn situatie, MAAR ik heb ook ruimte om te kiezen. Ja ik heb ruimte om te kiezen, MAAR ik ben tegelijkertijd ook gebonden aan mijn context, cultuur en opvoeding.

Dit is maar één klein voorbeeld. Maar de “sprong” die mij uitdaagt om in paradoxen vooruit te bewegen is zeker iets wat mij aanspreekt. Om concreet, voorwaarts te leven.

Daunting book. Heavy read. Some of it is really powerful. The turning away from all the negativity towards our own flesh and the turning away from lots of Calvinist denying of self etc. It is interesting to see how many of these statements are not very shocking at all as much of this has trickled down into our societal thinking.

But Nietzsche being Nietzsche there is also a lot that is harder to get through. Lots of allegory that is lost on me.

I liked the story of the Camel the Lion and the Boy a lot.

Lekker weird boekje over kantoor gezeik. Prachtig.

Dit soort dingen: Het bruine café naast de kantoorboekhandel was wel open, maar daar zaten twee oude mannen boven hun glaasje jenever met lege blik naar buiten te staren, als een reclame tegen alcohol, of ouderdom, of tegen het leven zelf. Cavia zag dit als een teken dat er thuis op de bank naar een nieuwe serie gekeken moest worden.

One of the best books I have read in a long time. Literary non-fiction at its finest.

The protagonist/author decides to flee Afghanistan with his translator. It is daring. It is brash. It is dangerous and it is full of love for people trying to find a better place and being denied freedom.

Nice little technical novel. But a lot of it is just this 30,40-something introspection and regrets about childhood that feels a bit stale. The payoff is sad and a bit nasty.

Good to reiterate the need for big corp to change. For billionaires not to exist. Nothing new. But lovely insights into his campaign. And how funds are being used within the Bernie Sanders movement

I loathed Aleph, found it horrendous, so someone gave this to me as a joke. But I actually kind of enjoyed it. It is sometimes a bit whimsical and sentimental, but it's a lovely little story about followint your dreams and trying to live close to your passion etc.

Very interesting book, loved most of it very much.

The only thing that kind of bothered me is that then author comes across as both incredibly nihilistic and deterministic of how the world works. Kind of confusing. For all the nuance he brings in certain areas he is very adamant about his perception on what the myths are we build our lives around.

Anyways.. A good read.

Not extremely profound, but it's a great articulation of a sense of loss and grief. What do you do when all your beliefs stop working? Do you give up? Do you look elsewhere?

Without going into much detail I think this book really struck a chord in a time where I was rediscovering some riches in religions (not just Christianity), in a time where I could relax a bit more instead of just finding things to throw sticks at.