{"title":"Pascal Bruckner","description":"\u003cp\u003ePascal Bruckner offers incisive explorations into the complexities of modern life, weaving together philosophy, politics, and social critique. His works challenge readers to reconsider notions of love, guilt, and identity, often delving into the paradoxes that shape contemporary society.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFrom probing the dynamics of personal relationships to confronting cultural and political ideologies, Bruckner's writings invite thoughtful reflection on the human condition and the tensions that define our times.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"i-suffer-therefore-i-am-by-pascal-bruckner-9781509567164","title":"I Suffer Therefore I Am","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the West today, suffering has become a new sacred cow. Once a common feature of the human condition, it is now a special trait you can use to impress your contemporaries. It provides you with a borrowed identity, transforming you into an exceptional being who can show off on the public stage at little cost. Everyone flaunts their certificate of affliction, positioning themselves above their peers. Even those who are well-off and powerful seek to find a place in the aristocracy of the margins, creating new castes of the dispossessed at the expense of the truly unfortunate.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eInfused with bitterness, this cult of the victim glorifies the martyr figure and feeds into the passions of revenge and resentment. This is the message of our age: we are all victims and entitled to feel sorry for ourselves.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe submissive humanity of Christianity and the arrogant humanity of modernity have now been replaced by a victimized humanity allergic to distress. Pampered, coddled, raised in fear and sensitivity, how will younger generations be able to confront the chaotic world that awaits them, marked by war, violence, terrorism and climate chaos? Who will teach them the courage to endure, to face setbacks head-on, without faltering in the face of misfortune?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eI Suffer Therefore I Am\u003c\/em\u003e explores these themes, challenging the contemporary view of suffering and victimhood in the modern world.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46871407067372,"sku":"9781509567164","price":59.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/12693893482725.jpg?v=1759878580"},{"product_id":"a-brief-eternity-by-pascal-bruckner-9781509544325","title":"A Brief Eternity","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere is one fundamental thing that has changed in our societies since 1950: life has got longer. Over the last few generations, 20 or 30 years have been added to the duration of our lives. But after the age of 50, human beings experience a kind of suspension: no longer young, not really old, they are, as it were, weightless. It is a reprieve that leaves life open like a swinging door.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe increase in life expectancy is a tremendous step forward that upsets everything: relations between generations, patterns of family life, the very meaning of our identity and our destiny. This reprieve is both exciting and frightening. The deadlines are getting shorter, the possibilities are shrinking, but there are still discoveries, surprises, and upsetting love affairs.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTime has become a paradoxical ally: instead of killing us, it carries us forward. What to do with this ambiguous gift? Is it only a question of living longer or living more intensely? To continue along the same path or to branch out and start again? What about remarriage, a new career? How to avoid the weariness of living, the melancholy of the twilight years, how to get through great joys and great pains?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eNourished by both reflections and statistics, drawing on the sources of literature, the arts, and history, \u003cem\u003eA Brief Eternity\u003c\/em\u003e proposes a philosophy of longevity based not on resignation but on resolution. In short, an art of living this life to the full. Is there not a profound joy in being alive at the age when our ancestors already had one foot in the grave?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis book is dedicated to all those who dream of a new spring in the autumn of life, and want to put off winter as long as they can.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47000414650604,"sku":"9781509544325","price":30.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/12465503482725.jpg?v=1763278713"},{"product_id":"the-friendship-of-a-mountain-by-pascal-bruckner-9781509555536","title":"The Friendship of a Mountain","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhy 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBut 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?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47000781422828,"sku":"9781509555536","price":30.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/12577613482725.jpg?v=1763304204"},{"product_id":"the-triumph-of-the-slippers-by-pascal-bruckner-9781509559527","title":"The Triumph of the Slippers","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSince the beginning of the 21st century, global warming, terrorism, the pandemic, and now the war in Ukraine have created a widespread feeling that the world is an increasingly dangerous place. In response to this situation, it is understandable that many people are inclined to retreat to the safety of their home – the last refuge and safeguard against the savagery of the outside world. But the home is not just a shelter: it is a space that supplants and replaces the world, a wired cocoon that gradually renders any journey to the outside world superfluous.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFrom our couch, we can enjoy remotely the pleasures once offered by the cinema, the theatre, and the café. Everything, from food to love to art, can be delivered to your door. Armed with a smartphone and a Netflix account, why would anyone risk life and limb to venture out to the cinema? Compulsory confinement, the nightmare of the pandemic years, seems to have been replaced by voluntary self-confinement. Fleeing from the cities, working remotely, relinquishing travel and tourism, we risk becoming reclusive creatures that cower at the slightest tremor.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn this witty and spirited book, \u003cem\u003eThe Triumph of the Slippers\u003c\/em\u003e, Pascal Bruckner takes aim at today’s voluntary seclusionism and the self-inflicted atrophy that comes with it, tracing its philosophical contours and historical roots. It is no longer the tyranny of lockdowns that threatens us but rather the tyranny of the sofa: will the slipper and the dressing gown be the new symbols of tomorrow's world?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47000821629164,"sku":"9781509559527","price":30.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/12617523482725.jpg?v=1763307405"},{"product_id":"an-imaginary-racism-by-pascal-bruckner-9781509554904","title":"An Imaginary Racism","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eIslamophobia\u003c\/em\u003e is a term that has existed since the nineteenth century. But in recent decades, argues Pascal Bruckner in his controversial new book, it has become a weapon used to silence criticism of Islam. The term allows those who brandish it in the name of Islam to ‘freeze’ the latter, making reform difficult. Whereas Christianity and Judaism have been rejuvenated over the centuries by external criticism, Islam has been shielded from critical examination and has remained impervious to change.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis tendency is exacerbated by the hypocrisy of those Western defenders of Islam who, in the name of the principles of the Enlightenment, seek to muzzle its critics while at the same time demanding the right to chastise and criticize other religions. These developments, argues Bruckner, are counter-productive for Western democracies as they struggle with the twin challenges of immigration and terrorism. The return of religion in those democracies must not be equated with the defence of fanaticism, and the right to religious freedom must go hand in hand with freedom of expression, an openness to criticism, and a rejection of all forms of extremism.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThere are already more than enough forms of racism; there is no need to imagine more. While all violence directed against Muslims is to be strongly condemned and punished, defining these acts as ‘Islamophobic’ rather than criminal does more to damage Islam and weaken the position of Muslims than to strengthen them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47383539941612,"sku":"9781509554904","price":30.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/12571293482725.jpg?v=1773374640"},{"product_id":"has-marriage-for-love-failed-by-pascal-bruckner-9780745669786","title":"Has Marriage for Love Failed?","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eToday, we like to think that marriage is a free choice based on love: that we freely choose whom to marry and that we do so, not so much for survival or social advantage, but for love. The invention of marriage for love inverted the old relationship between love and marriage. In the past, marriage was sacred, and love, if it existed at all, was a consequence of marriage; today, love is sacred and marriage is secondary.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBut now marriage appears to be becoming increasingly superfluous. For the past forty years or so, the number of weddings has been declining, the number of divorces exploding and the number of unmarried individuals and couples growing, while single-parent families are becoming more numerous. Love has triumphed over marriage but now it is destroying it from inside. So has the ideal of marriage for love failed, and has love finally been liberated from the shackles of marriage?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn this brilliant and provocative book, Pascal Bruckner argues that the old tension between love and marriage has not been resolved in favour of love; it has simply been displaced onto other levels. Even if it seems more straightforward, the contemporary landscape of love is far from euphoric: as in the past, infidelity, loss, and betrayal are central to the plots of modern love, and the disenchantment is all the greater because marriages are voluntary and not imposed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBut the collapse of the ideal of marriage for love is not necessarily a cause for remorse, because it demonstrates that love retains its subversive power. Love is not a glue to be put in the service of the institution of marriage: it is an explosive that blows up in our faces, dynamite pure and simple.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47470768521452,"sku":"9780745669786","price":23.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9780745669786-has-marriage-for-love-failed.jpg?v=1775226605"},{"product_id":"the-tyranny-of-guilt-by-pascal-bruckner-9780691154305","title":"The Tyranny of Guilt","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFascism, communism, genocide, slavery, racism, imperialism—the West has no shortage of reasons for guilt. And, indeed, since the Holocaust and the end of World War II, Europeans in particular have been consumed by remorse. But Pascal Bruckner argues that guilt has now gone too far. It has become a pathology, and even an obstacle to fighting today's atrocities.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBruckner, one of France's leading writers and public intellectuals, argues that obsessive guilt has obscured important realities. The West has no monopoly on evil and has destroyed monsters as well as created them—leading in the abolition of slavery, renouncing colonialism, building peaceful and prosperous communities, and establishing rules and institutions that are models for the world. The West should be proud—and ready to defend itself and its values.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn this, Europeans should learn from Americans, who still have sufficient self-esteem to act decisively in a world of chaos and violence. Lamenting the vice of anti-Americanism that grips so many European intellectuals, Bruckner urges a renewed transatlantic alliance and advises Americans not to let recent foreign-policy misadventures sap their own confidence.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Tyranny of Guilt\u003c\/em\u003e is a searing, provocative, and psychologically penetrating account of the crude thought and bad politics that arise from excessive bad conscience.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Hachette Aotearoa New Zealand","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47608182014188,"sku":"9780691154305","price":84.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9780691154305-the-tyranny-of-guilt.jpg?v=1778188263"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.pro\/collections\/pascal-bruckner.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}