Temptation of the Wall Five Short Lessons on Civil Life
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Biographical note
Massimo Recalcati is a bestselling author and psychoanalyst who teaches at the universities of Pavia and Verona.<p>‘With his usual vivid wit and wisdom, the psychoanalyst Massimo Recalcati describes the world we occupy as one where a fantasy of the ever more threatening stranger lies behind our frantic building of walls – concrete and psychic. Yet, if we really want to strengthen our increasingly enclosed, fragile selves, encouraged only to exercise sovereignty over what we consume, we need to realize that it is only via generous solidarity with others, not sealed off individual choices, that we will find a richer freedom. This book is a tonic for our times.’<br /><b>Lynne Segal, author of <i>Radical Happiness: Moments of Collective Joy</i></b></p>
Modern social and political life is characterized not only by a passion for freedom and a desire for human contact, but also by the urge to shut down, to refuse freedom and the responsibility that goes with it, to barter it away in return for our security: this is the temptation of the wall, a temptation with which every modern society has to come to terms.
Drawing on his experience as a psychoanalyst, Recalcati shows that the temptation of the wall is rooted in a deep psychological inclination: human beings have always drawn up borders and rejected the risks associated with being open to the outside world. But when these borders are turned into walls, they can only result in an impoverishment of the value of exchange and the loss of the dynamic plurality of a life shared with others.
Introduction
1. The Border
2. Hate
3. Ignorance
4. Fanaticism
5. Freedom
Notes