Theater of Cruelty

Henning Næs

Literary critic in MODERN TIMES.

Living is quite a strange thing

WRITING: Murakami is charismatic without seeming pedantic. A mental training diary?

To lose all hope?

HOPE: The good or reasonable hope is to hope for something that lies within the limits of possibility.

Misanthropic User Manual

ESSAYS: Is the truth scandalous? Michel Houellebecq hides behind masks, and in the end the masks are stuck to his face: He has become his own self-representation.

A lingering life beyond rationality

HOLDERLIN: Giorgio Agamben makes a loose juxtaposition between Goethe and Hölderlin, between madness and reason. Did the latter allow himself to be pushed psychologically to the limit?

A logical consequence of the Cold War?

RUSSIA: Mary Elise Sarotte demonstrates thorough knowledge of the Cold War – and today's horrific continuation of it.

To protect civilians

Comment: Should Amnesty International have been asked not to reveal the truth for purely strategic reasons?

End Times Thoughts

PHILOSOPHY: While postmodernism involved an explosion, today's posthumous condition, according to Marina Garcés, involves a liquidation of all possibilities – an implosion. Yes, are the hopes we cling to today just market-adapted needs for hope?

Eternity policy

UKRAINE: What is the influence of the philosopher Ivan Ilyin on Putin's politics? Today, information warfare is at least as important as military warfare.

Wonder as a way of life

PHILOSOPHY: Jostein Gaarder conveys a mixture of worry and wonder.