Author: Amin Maalouf
Translator: Chang-ho Park
Publisher: Iron-gwa-shilcheon
205 pages | 223*152mm
| Important! Please read before you order! |
| >>>This book is written in Korean only. |
About This Book
From Publishers Weekly
"A life spent writing has taught me to be wary of words. Those that seem
clearest are often the most treacherous. `Identity' is one of those false
friends," begins this compelling, provocative and persuasive study of the
dangers of personal, religious, ethnic and national identities. Arguing that
these identities allow and often encourage people to engage in horrific acts of
violence upon those with different identities, Maalouf offers a philosophical
exploration of what a culture without entrenched identities would be like.
Lebanese by birth, Maalouf is a journalist and award-winning novelist (Rock of
Tanious) who has lived in France for 25 years. Writing from a position of
multiple identities ("I am posed between two countries, two or three languages,
and several cultural traditions"), he asserts that many people are in similar
situations. With intelligence, wit and moral fortitude, Maalouf accessibly and
eloquently addresses such complicated issues as how we judge religious
traditions that have embraced violence and brutality; modern manifestations of
"otherness"; how language facilitates nationalism; and the contradiction between
stark identity-based political conflicts and how the same identity-based
cultures can be shared by different groups. Maalouf does not na?vely demand that
personal identities be dismissed, but suggests a number of ways in which
identities can remain intact and might form not a "meaningless sham equality"
but "rather the acceptance of a multiplicity of allegiances as all equally
legitimate." Utopian realism at its finest, Maalouf's thesis has a slim but
vital potential to be realized. This is an important addition to contemporary
literature on diversity, nationalism, race and international politics.
Availability: Usually ships in 5~10 business days.
 | |||||||||
 |
| ||||||||
Can't
find what you're looking for?
