Goodish and widely read, but neither the first nor best on this theme. ( )

Utile tornare ai classici, soprattutto se non li si è mai letti. In Marcuse, al di là dell'iniziale barriera linguistico-ideologica (testo del 1964, ma sembra più vecchio), c'è una delle più concrete condanne del razionalismo tecnologico che guida la società occidentale. In questo senso, questo libro (di cui a essere mitico è già soltanto il titolo) fa il paio con quelli di autori come Anders, Mumford o anche Debord. Si muove tra la filosofia e la sociologia, e uno dei principali meriti del libro è quello di ragionare sulla relazione fra tecnologia, arte e filosofia. Non è inutile dire - come altri qui sotto - che il libro conserva tutta la sua attualità anche a distanza di 50 anni e oltre. ( )

One of those mystifying books I’ll read over and over again for the hope of understanding just one more sentence.
( )

'(1) I ride in a new automobile. I experience its beauty, shininess, power, convenience--but then I become aware of the fact that in a relatively short time it will deteriorate and need repair; that its beauty and surface are cheap. its power unnecessary, its size idiotic; and that I will not find a parking place. I come to think of my car as a product of one of the Big Three automobile corporations. The latter determine the appearance of my car and make its beauty as well as its cheapness, its power as well as its shakiness, its working as well as its obsolescence. In a way, I feel cheated. I believe that the car is not what it could be, that better cars could 'be made for less money. But the other guy has to live, too. Wages and taxes are too high; turnover is necessary; we have it much better than before. The tension between appearance and reality melts away and both merge in one rather pleasant feeling.

(2) I take a walk in the country. Everything is as it should be: Nature at its best. Birds, sun. soft grass, a view through the trees of the mountains, nobody around, no radio, no smell of gasoline. Then the path turns and ends on the highway. I am back among the billboards, service stations, motels, and roadhouses. I was in a National Park. and I now know that this was not reality. It was a "reservation" something that is being preserved like a species dying out. If it were not for the government, the billboards, hot dog stands, and motels would long since have invaded that piece of Nature. I am grateful to the government; we have it much better than before ...

(3) The subway during evening rush hour. What I see of the people are tired faces and limbs, hatred and anger. I feel someone might at any moment draw a knife-just so. They read, or rather they are soaked in their newspaper or magazine or paperback. And yet, a couple of hours later, the same people, deodorized, washed, dressed-up or down, may be happy and tender, really smile, and forget (or remember). But most of them will probably have some awful togetherness or aloneness at home.'

Rough going for casual reading. ( )