Tony Judt, "Considering the 20th Century" Summary and Comments - What we must do to prevent a repeat of our tragic history.
Introduced here is "Thinking the 20th Century," translated by Tony Judt and Shintaro Kono, published by Misuzu Shobo in 2015.
Speaking of Tony Judt, I mentioned in a previous article, "European Postwar HistoryHe is a well-known historian in the
Let's take a quick look at the book.
A hundred years of spiritual history narrated by the historian of the famous book "European Postwar History.
The ultimate posthumous book that intersects autobiography with the Holocaust and Zionism, fascism and communism, and the reason for the existence of intellectuals.This book is a history of modern and contemporary political thought in Europe and the United States. Its subject is power and justice as variously understood by liberal, socialist, communist, nationalist, and fascist intellectuals of the late 19th and early 21st centuries.
The book is also an intellectual biography of historian and critic Tony Judt, who was born in London in the middle of the 20th century, just after the historical upheavals of World War II and the Holocaust, and as the communists were seizing power in Eastern Europe.
And finally, it is a meditation on the limits of political thought, and the possibility of its renewal, as well as on the moral and spiritual failures of intellectuals in politics, and their obligations." (Timothy Snyder)What have we lost when we dismiss the 20th century as a thing of the past? What parts of the near past have been forgotten and what can be retrieved and used to build a better future? (...) What has resulted is a most lively dialogue. We could not have hoped for a better outcome." (Tony Judt)
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The book is the last work of Tony Judt, who suffered from the incurable disease ALS, and was interviewed by Timothy Snyder, another historian.
Timothy Snyder is another historian who has been featured on this blog.
that (someone or something distant from both speaker and listener, or situation unfamiliar to both speaker and listener)Bloodland: The Truth About Hitler and Stalin and the Holocaust.is so shocking that it has considerably changed my previous image of the Holocaust and purges. That is why our blogRead "Bloodland: The Truth About Hitler and Stalin and the Holocaust."I have read the contents of this book in the form of
It was a very interesting dialogue between two such great historians of prewar, wartime, and postwar Europe. I felt that this is what a chemical reaction between a listener and a speaker is all about. Intellectuals of overwhelming levels seriously discussing the world with each other. That is what this work is about. The dialogue between these two people makes for an overwhelming read. The sharpness of their views is astonishing! You will be surprised at how many times they come up with something that will make you think, "What is it that I am talking about?
I was particularly impressed by Tony Judt's discussion of Marxism. His discussion of what Marxism was in the first place and why it drew people so intensely to it made me wince. I will not introduce it here, but I would like to take the time to introduce that part of the book again. *"Historian Tony Judt's View of Marxism - "Commonalities with Traditional Christian Eschatology" Is Marxism a Religious Phenomenon?"⑵"(See article in)
And there is one last section I would like to introduce.
I was struck by something Timothy Snyder, the listener, said in his foreword. I am going to quote it now.
The dialogue-based nature of the book required the authors to be familiar with thousands of other books. Since Tony and I were in a face-to-face conversation, there was no time to check references. Tony did not know in advance what questions I would ask, nor did I know in advance how Tony would respond.
The dialogues in this book reflect the spontaneity, unpredictability, and sometimes playfulness of the two minds as they wrestled tirelessly through their dialogues. But throughout the book, and especially in the chapters on history, we have relied on the power of our mental library, and especially on Tony's impossibly large and neatly catalogued collection of it.
This book is an argument for the power of dialogue, but perhaps even more so for the power of reading. Although I did not study with Tony, his brain catalog overlapped considerably with my own. Our earlier reading created a shared space in which Tony and I shared our adventures, pointing out signs and prospects when we seemed to lose our way.
Misuzu Shobo, Tony Judt, translated by Shintaro Kono, Thinking about the 20th Century, p. 6-7
Some line breaks have been made.
When I read this passage, I honestly thought it was cool. It's almost like a feeling of "admiration.
It was just shocking to be shown the power of reading in such a way.
There is often a debate about whether reading is more important in terms of quality or quantity, but both are still important if you really want to master something. I felt the greatness of scholars and intellectuals who have continued to be at the top of the world. This book is a tremendous clash of knowledge between these two men. I am lucky to have come across such a stimulating book.
This is a highly recommended book. I hope you will pick up a copy.
The above is "Tony Judt, "Thinking about the 20th Century": How not to repeat the tragic history.
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