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A shaky diagnosis of a disillusioned youth

Book review written by Hans Henrik Fafner
Age of Violence. The Crisis of Political Action and the End of Utopia
Forfatter: Alain Bertho
Forlag: Verso Books, (Storbritannien)
DIAGNOSIS: Does hope lead to disappointment and desperation to terror? With Alain Bertho, we can talk about a presentism, ie a lasting present, without past or future.

In his excellent novel from 2012, Rue des voleurs, which has also been published in Norwegian, writes the French author Mathias about two young guys, Lakhdar and Bassam. They arrive from Morocco to Barcelona, ​​where Lakhdar falls in love with the Jewish Judith, while Bassam falls in love with the Koran. The book was created in the wake of the so-called Arab Spring and describes along the way a young generation that is divided in the face of two emotions, hope and desperation. Both are equally hopeless, for hope leads to disappointment and desperation leads to terror.

Alain Bertho refers to the novel in his own small but monumental book, which has been published in English translation. Bertho is Professor of Anthropology at the University. . .

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Hans Henrik Fafner
Fafner is a regular critic in Ny Tid. Residing in Tel Aviv.

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