Pascal Bruckner – författare

The planet is sick. Human beings are guilty of damaging it. We have to pay. Today, that is the orthodoxy throughout the Western world. Distrust of progress and science, calls for individual and collective self-sacrifice to ‘save the planet’ and cultivation of fear: behind the carbon commissars, a dangerous and counterproductive ecological catastrophism is gaining ground. Modern society’s susceptibility to this kind of thinking derives from what Bruckner calls “the seductive attraction of disaster,” as exemplified by the popular appeal of disaster movies. But ecological catastrophism is harmful in that it draws attention away from other, more solvable problems and injustices in the world in order to focus on something that is portrayed as an Apocalypse. Rather than preaching catastrophe and pessimism, we need to develop a democratic and generous ecology that addresses specific problems in a practical way.

A provocative reflection on the dilemmas of modern loveThe sexual revolution is justly celebrated for the freedoms it brought—birth control, the decriminalization of abortion, the liberalization of divorce, greater equality between the sexes, women''s massive entry into the workforce, and more tolerance of homosexuality. But as Pascal Bruckner, one of France''s leading writers, argues in this lively and provocative reflection on the contradictions of modern love, our new freedoms have also brought new burdens and rules—without, however, wiping out the old rules, emotions, desires, and arrangements: the couple, marriage, jealousy, the demand for fidelity, the war between constancy and inconstancy. It is no wonder that love, sex, and relationships today are so confusing, so difficult, and so paradoxical.Drawing on history, politics, psychology, literature, pop culture, and current events, this book—a best seller in France—exposes and dissects these paradoxes. With his customary brilliance and wit, Bruckner traces the roots of sexual liberation back to the Enlightenment in order to explain love''s supreme paradox, epitomized by the 1960s oxymoron of "free love": the tension between freedom, which separates, and love, which attaches. Ashamed that our sex lives fail to live up to such liberated ideals, we have traded neuroses of repression for neuroses of inadequacy, and we overcompensate: "Our parents lied about their morality," Bruckner writes, but "we lie about our immorality.?Mixing irony and optimism, Bruckner argues that, when it comes to love, we should side neither with the revolutionaries nor the reactionaries. Rather, taking love and ourselves as we are, we should realize that love makes no progress and that its messiness, surprises, and paradoxes are not merely the sources of its pain—but also of its pleasure and glory.

Why are we fascinated by mountains? These outcrops of rock were once considered unsightly, something to be avoided at all costs, but, since Rousseau, they have been contrasted with our corrupt cities and viewed as serene enclaves of beauty and relaxation.

But why climb to the summit only to come back down again? Why does the toil of climbing convert into joy? What metaphysics of the absolute is playing out here – what challenge does climbing pose to time and ageing, to fearful panic, to the brush with danger which leads to conquest? It’s not faith that elevates mountains – it’s mountains that elevate our faith in challenging us to overcome them. These hooded majesties crush some people while exalting others. For the latter, climbing means being born again, reaching a state of exhilaration. Being seized by exhaustion upon arriving at the summit is akin to casting your eyes upon paradise. Is it the stinging cold, the wind so strong that it almost knocks you down, or is it higher powers that speak to us in this mixture of terror and beauty?

A child of the mountains who spent his youth in Austria and Switzerland, Pascal Bruckner has special ties to the subject of this book: the further he climbs, the more he reconnects to his past. In sparkling and sensual prose, Bruckner’s paean to the majesty of mountains weaves together things seen and things read, childhood memories, literature and philosophy, interlaced with reflections on life, ageing and the unrivalled beauty of an ecosystem that we are in danger of destroying.

Cum se construiește un nou tip de rasismCăderea Zidului Berlinului a lăsat stânga europeană într-o confuzie totală. Pe câmpul de bătălie al ideilor, progresul, libertatea și universalul au cedat locul unei noi triade importate direct din Statele Unite: genul, identitatea și rasa.Ieri ne luptam în numele proletariatului, al Lumii a Treia și al damnaților planetei; astăzi condamnăm omul alb, făcându-l vinovat de colonialism, sclavie și dominarea femeilor. Trei discursuri – neofeminist, antirasist și decolonial – îl desemnează ca fiind dușmanul comun al omenirii. El a devenit noul Satana, cel pe care propria anatomie îl face un violator ontologic, culoarea pielii – rasist, iar puterea – exploatator al tuturor „dominaților" și „rasizaților".Scopul acestui eseu este de a analiza cum, sub impulsul unei americanizări caricaturale a Europei, lupta de gen și cea de rasă sunt pe cale de a înlocui lupta de clasă, de a alunga meritocrația și de a distruge ideea de umanitate ca unitate. Să facem din omul alb țapul ispășitor prin excelență nu înseamnă decât să înlocuim un rasism cu altul; și, într-un viitor ce se anunță sumbru, cu societăți tribale, care-și păzesc cu strășnicie identitatea, pradă unui război al tuturor contra tuturor.„Pascal Bruckner demontează cu eleganță «fascismul de stânga», venit, în opinia lui, din America și care atacă bărbatul alb, heterosexual, occidental. Cu siguranță, Un vinovat aproape perfect va da naștere multor polemici." – Lire„Derapajele fenomenului #MeeToo, negarea violurilor din Köln, cenzura din universități, precum și tabuul legat de comerțul oriental cu sclavi sunt câteva dintre subiectele abordate pertinent de acest nou eseu al lui Pascal Bruckner." – Le Figaro Magazine„Concluzia acestui strălucit eseu al lui Bruckner este că white bashing, denigrarea omului alb, trebuie să înceteze, înainte ca această farsă să se transforme în tragedie. Pentru că, la urma urmelor, omul alb nu este decât un om ca oricare altul." – EditoNăscut la Paris în 1948, Pascal Bruckner este romancier şi eseist, o figură emblematică a intelectualităţii franceze.La Editura Trei au apărut toate romanele sale – Casa îngerilor, Luni de fiere, Hoţii de frumuseţe, Fiul cel bun, Care dintre noi doi l-a născocit pe celălalt?, Iubirea faţă de aproapele, Căpcăunii anonimi, Copilul divin, Palatul chelfănelii, Iubito, eu mă micşorez!..., Păzea, se-ntoarce Moş Crăciun!, Paria, Un an și o zi, volumele de eseuri – Noua dezordine amoroasă, Fanaticii apocalipsei, Paradoxul iubirii, Căsătoria din dragoste, Euforia peretuă, Mizeria prosperităţii, Tirania penitenţei. Eseu despre masochismul occidental, Înțelepciunea banilor, Un rasism imaginar, O scurtă eternitate, precum și volumul de teatru Ce dorește domnul?.