The Fear of Barbarians: Beyond the Clash of Civilizations
by Tzvetan Todorov
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The relationship between Western democracies and Islam, rarely entirely comfortable, has in recent years become increasingly tense. A growing immigrant population and worries about cultural and political assimilation-exacerbated by terrorist attacks in the United States, Europe, and around the world-have provoked reams of commentary from all parts of the political spectrum, a frustrating majority of it hyperbolic or even hysterical. In The Fear of Barbarians, the celebrated intellectual show more Tzvetan Todorov offers a corrective: a reasoned and often highly personal analysis of the problem, rooted in Enlightenment values yet open to the claims of cultural difference. Drawing on history, anthropology, and politics, and bringing to bear examples ranging from the murder of Theo van Gogh to the French ban on headscarves, Todorov argues that the West must overcome its fear of Islam if it is to avoid betraying the values it claims to protect. True freedom, Todorov explains, requires us to strike a delicate balance between protecting and imposing cultural values, acknowledging the primacy of the law, and yet strenuously protecting minority views that do not interfere with its aims. Adding force to Todorov's arguments is his own experience as a native of communist Bulgaria: his admiration of French civic identity-and Western freedom-is vigorous but non-nativist, an inclusive vision whose very flexibility is its core strength. The record of a penetrating mind grappling with a complicated, multifaceted problem, The Fear of Barbarians is a powerful, important book-a call, not to arms, but to thought. show lessTags
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Senz'altro un libro assai interessante, ma altrettanto noioso e poco concludente. A pagina 100 passo ad altro. Non serbo un solo ricordo di quanto letto.
“Het humanisme van Todorov is aangenaam sceptisch van aard; het heeft niets van het al te rooskleurige humanisme van popsterren en postchristelijke dominees die denken dat mensen elkaar in de armen zullen vallen, wanneer ze elkaar maar recht in de ogen durven kijken. Dat hij zich verzet tegen het simplistische discours dat de westerse cultuur tot superieur verklaart (westerse ontsporingen als het communisme en het fascisme worden daarbij altijd vergeten), wil niet zeggen dat hij vindt dat er geen verschil is tussen culturen. Cultuur is voor hem nooit een excuus voor barbaarse praktijken, zoals eerwraak. Aan de andere kant laat hij zien dat een land als de Verenigde Staten in de strijd tegen de barbaarsheid zelf vervallen is tot show more barbaarse praktijken, zoals het martelen van gevangenen en het eindeloos vasthouden van verdachten zonder enige vorm van rechtspraak. Zijn boek is een staaltje verlichtingskritiek dat rechtstreeks voortkomt uit het verlichtingsdenken zelf; zoals hij in zijn vorige essay, L’esprit des Lumières, stelde: het ware verlichtingsdenken houdt zichzelf steeds opnieuw tegen het licht”.
Bas Heijne in NRC Boeken
http://www.nrcboeken.nl/recensie/leve-de-humanistische-softies show less
Bas Heijne in NRC Boeken
http://www.nrcboeken.nl/recensie/leve-de-humanistische-softies show less
Erudiete en verhelderende studie over identiteit, cultuur en interculturele relaties.
May 16, 2015Dutch
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21 works; 4 members
Author Information
Tzvetan Todorov was born in Sofia, Bulgaria on March 1, 1939. He did his undergraduate studies at the University of Sofia and then moved to France to pursue postgraduate work. He completed his doctorate at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences in 1966 and he began teaching at the National Center for Scientific Research in 1968. In show more 1983, he helped found the Center for Arts and Language Research, involving scholars from both institutions. He was a literary theorist and historian. He wrote numerous books including The Fantastic: A Structural Approach to a Literary Genre, The Conquest of America: The Question of the Other, On Human Diversity, Facing the Extreme: Moral Life in the Concentration Camps, A French Tragedy: Scenes of Civil War Summer 1944, The New World Disorder: Reflections of a European, and Fear of the Barbarians: Beyond the Clash of Civilizations. He died of multiple system atrophy, a progressive brain disorder, on February 7, 2017 at the age of 77. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Some Editions
Awards and Honors
Common Knowledge
- Original title
- La peur des barbares
- Original publication date
- 2008
- Dedication
- In memory of Germaine Tillion and Edward Said
- First words
- If we are to talk of the relations between peoples or societies, we first need to tackle a difficult question: can we use the same criteria to judge acts that arise within different cultures?
- Original language
- French
Classifications
- Genres
- Nonfiction, Sociology, History, Politics and Government, General Nonfiction, Religion & Spirituality
- DDC/MDS
- 909.09767 — History & geography History World history Other Geographic Classifications Socioeconomic Regions By Religion
- LCC
- CB251 .T5913 — Auxiliary Sciences of History History of Civilization History of Civilization Civilization and race
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 140
- Popularity
- 232,655
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (3.19)
- Languages
- 7 — Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 16
- ASINs
- 3
