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"In the 2007 CBC Massey Lectures, author Alberto Manguel takes a fresh look at the rise of violent intolerance in our societies. Many of us agree that the end of ethnic nationalism is a good idea. We strive to build societies that promote civic nationalism, with sets of values all citizens can agree on. But something has gone wrong: race riots in France, political murder in the Netherlands, bombings in Britain - are these symptoms of a multicultural experiment gone awry? Why is it so difficult for us to live together when the alternatives are demonstrably horrifying?" "Alberto Manguel suggests a fresh approach: We should look at what visionaries, poets, novelists, essayists, and filmmakers have to say about building societies. Perhaps the stories we tell hold secret keys to the human heart. From Cassandra to Jack London, the Epic of Gilgamesh to the computer Hal in 2001: A Space Odyssey, Don Quixote to Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner, Manguel draws fascinating and revelatory parallels between the personal and political realities of our present-day word and those of myth, legend, and story."--BOOK JACKET.… (more)
User reviews
I love all his books, for they make me think, and if I leave their covers asking more questions, filled with more curiosity about the world and book and language than I was before, I think this is all to the good. Manguel trusts his reader to be engaged with the world, to question and to read and to drawn his/her own conclusions, even as he encourages the reader to think, read and live more deeply.
In this collection of essays on the power of language and story, Manguel’s erudition shines on every page. He ranges from the Epic of Gilgamesh to the writings of the ancient Greeks, to the Bible to Stanley Kubrick’s movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.
This is a trek through literature’s relationship to society and the self and it is full of the most marvelous digressions—Inuit conceptions of space and time, the myth of Cassandra, Don Quixote---and all of them interesting.
At the core is Manguel's belief that storytelling is an essential and fundamental aspect of being human. Consider:
"Stories are our memory, libraries are the storerooms of that memory, and reading is the craft by means of which we can recreate that memory by reciting it and glossing it, by translating it back into our own experience, by allowing ourselves to build upon that which previous generations have seen fit to preserve."
and:
"Under certain conditions, stories can assist us. Sometimes they can heal us, illuminate us, and show us the way. Above all, they can remind us of our condition, break through the superficial appearance of things, and make us aware of the underlying currents and depths. Stories can feed our consciousness, which can lead to the faculty of knowing if not who we at least that we are, and essential awareness that develops through confrontation with another’s voice. "
His discussion of the historical idea of the 'other' and how it has haunted us from the earliest writings of the Greeks, to present day political policies, is alone worth the price of the book.
Highly recommended.