BECOMING HUMAN IS AN ART / RIEMEN

Information

Author:

Rob Riemen

Date:

Athenaeum
September 2023

Author:

Rights Sold:
Croatia: TIM Press World
Spanish: Taurus (PRH)
Catalan: Arcadia
Portugal: Bizâncio

Additional Info

BECOMING HUMAN IS AN ART

Rights Holder: Linwood Messina
Original Language: Dutch (full English translation available)

In 2010, Rob Riemen presciently warned the world about the eternal return of fascism. It's time to listen to him again.

In four sections, or "études", Rob Riemen pleas for an embrace of humanism with the hope that we can at last learn from history so that it will stop repeating itself. Since no essential change has taken place in those things that most shape our lives, namely human nature and the human psyche, history can therefore always repeat itself. Rob argues that our true identity should be the embodiment of all those universal spiritual values that belong to all people and guarantee the unity of humankind: our ability to live in truth, to do justice, to love, to create things of beauty. Everything used to distinguish us from others — sex, race, faith, origin, nationality or physical appearance — is of secondary importance.

These four études exemplify the fine art of becoming human.

In the First Étude — War as a School of Life. A Letter to My Mexican Students (ca 14,000 words) - Rob tells the story of his mother who as a teen was imprisoned, along with her whole family, in a Japanese internment camp in the Dutch East Indies. He shows how through the war she discovered the art of becoming human.

On Stupidity and Lies (ca 26,000 words), the Second Étude, consists of nine stories in which Rob tells in a chronological order how stupidity and lies have invaded our society and destroyed the moral pillars of our civilization. Ending with a glimmer of hope, the final story is about how to stop it.

Next, On Courage and Compassion (ca 5,000 words), centers around Émile Zola at the time of the Dreyfus Affair. He is as an encouraging example of the courage and compassion of a writer who uses his artistic skills to speak out as soon as the values and knowledge from which human beings derive their honour and dignity are pushed aside with destruction by lies and abuse of power.

Lastly, in Anxiety and the Muse (ca 9,000 words), the Fourth Étude, through the voice of author Russian author Mikhail Bulgakov's wife, Rob explains how Bulgakov overcame his anxiety, remained true to his calling as an artist, and what The Master and Margharita's

Rob Riemen born in 1962, is one of Europe’s leading intellectuals and the founder and president of the Nexus Institute that in the past decades has become one of Europe’s most prestigious organizations to inspire public intellectual debate about the most important subjects for humanity and society.

Riemen the author of several books including Nobility of Spirit. A forgotten Ideal (Yale University Press, 2008) and To Fight Against This Age (Norton, 2017). His books have been translated worldwide into 24 languages (English, Spanish, Chinese, Arabic and Russian included).

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