society
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Thomas MannFirst book from Thomas Mann for me.
I discovered for myself new type of novel reading this book. The novel is fictional and tells us a story. But what is more interesting is that Thomas Mann exists in the book himself. He comments on events and characters, he expresses his own sibjective judgements in parallel to objectively narrating the story. Author spends a lot of time on side topics: like philosophy, chemistry etc.
The bigger topic that crosses the whole book is Mann’s philosophical reflections on the topics of time and space.
Magic Mountain reminded me of The Dead Souls by Gogol. It is a story with a characters that were mostly unlikable by me, especially at the beginning. Those characters seem to be not the role models, they had problems and some not impressive features. However, book had a lot of different characters, and maybe it was the Mann’s point to show us, that no one is ideal in reality.
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George OrwellA comprehensive history of Russian revolution in a short, simple book that anyone can understand. I think in this fact lies the beauty of Orwell’s work. People of all ages can appreciate and visualize even the most complex social changes.
It seems that Orwell did describe Russian revolution very closely with fall of the capitalist empire, communist revolution, Marx, collectivization, fight between Trotsky and Stalin, dictatorship and full counter-revolution and come back to the similar state as it was before 1917 but with a different name.
Also, it seems, that even if it accounts for the Russian revolution, the pattern is the same for all them. This book is a reminder to us how events usually unfold and what happens at the end. And what kind of people typically end-up on top in any system regarding of the title.
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To be an Athenian is to hold knowledge and, especially, the quest for knowledge in high esteem. To contemplate, to reason, to experiment, to question - these are, to an Athenian, the most exalted activities a person can perform. To a Visigoth, the quest for knowledge is useless unless it can help you to earn money or to gain power over other people. To be an Athenian is to cherish language because you believe it to be humankind’s most precious gift. In their use of language, Athenians strive for grace, precision, and variety. And they admire those who can achieve such skill. To a Visigoth, one word is as good as another, one sentence indistinguishable from another. A Visigoth’s language aspires to nothing higher than the cliché. To be an Athenian is to understand that the thread which holds civilized society together is thin and vulnerable; therefore, Athenians place great value on tradition, social restraint, and continuity. To an Athenian, bad manners are acts of violence against social order. The modern Visigoth cares little about any of this. The Visigoths think of themselves as the center of the universe. Tradition exists for the own convenience, good manners are an affectation and a burden, and history is merely what is in yesterday’s newspaper. To be an Athenian is to take a interest in public affairs and the improvement of public behavior. Indeed, the ancient Athenians had a word for people who did not. The word was idiotes, from which we get our word “idiot”. A modern Visigoth is interested only in his own affairs and has no sense of the meaning of community. And, finally, to be an Athenian is to esteem the discipline, skill, and taste that are required to produce enduring art. Therefor, in approaching a work of art, Athenians prepare their imagination through learning and experience. To a Visigoth, there is no measure of artistic excellence except popularity. What catches the fancy of the multitude is good. no other standard is respected or even acknowledged by the Visigoth.
Neil Postman -
“Future schlock” is the name I give to a cultural condition characterized by the rapid erosion of collective intelligence. Future schlock is the aftermath of future shock. Whereas future shock results in confused, indecisive, and psychically uprooted people, future schlock produces a massive class of mediocre people.
Neil Postman -
(Editor: Einstein) was a humanitarian; his mind had been formed in an era when nothing could have shaken the prevailing assumption that man is a reasonable creature, and that if he falls into madness it is only temporary. The criterion for that era had been the individual man, who dominated the collectivity, who was safeguarded by inviolable law and empowered to protest by the ballot. But for my generation man was already the plaything of demonic powers born not in himself but in an interhuman space created by both him and his fellow-man.
Czesław Miłosz
