Men in dark times 黑暗时代的人们
书名解读
Men in dark times
dark times 黑暗时代
time
s
times 时代，时期
dark times
Hannah Arendt
内容概要
Men in Dark Times is a collection of essays
which stands as a testament to great men,
and sometimes women,
in times of strife and hardship throughout history.
It was written by Hannah Arendt
over a 15-year period in various publications
and collectively portrays political
and cultural individuals during the tumultuous years
from pre-World War I through the end of the second.
As a talented and thoughtful biographer,
Arendt instills in the reader
not only a sense of the tragedy of those "dark times,"
but the philosophical and spiritual light
which shines through these remarkable personages.
Her portrait of Pope John XXIII
is clearly the centerpiece of this volume.
Especially as seen through her eyes,
he was a man of simple faith and great wisdom.
Other subjects of her essays,
individuals whose names might have otherwise
slip into the vast unwritten history,
such as Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Jaspers, Isak Dinesen,
Walter Benjamin, and Bertolt Brecht,
were people who she knew
and admired for their personal stories of courage
and perseverance at a time of worldwide problems.
讲解
The volume is neatly tied together
by her opening essay entitled,
"On Humanity in Dark Times: Thoughts about Lessing."
She uses the views and thoughts
of this 18th century philosopher to discuss the ways
civic friendship help to cement society
in difficult times in each portrait.
The reader can reflect on our current era
in light of these biographies
and by the very nature
of how each individual must learn
and grow through the author's wonderful style of writing.
She provides the reader with a great insight
into the nature of greatness, not fame,
and the problems inherent in any time of social
and political upheaval.
There is much to learn here from the past
and the role each one of us plays in the present.
讲解
语言点
Times of strife and hardship
times 时代，时期
of
His job is of great importance.
His job is very important.
pre 在…之前的
prewar
post
postwar
in light of 按照，根据
I will consider the plan in light of recent developments.
关键詞
Rosa Luxemburg, First World War, New York, East Berlin,
Walter Benjamin, Third Reich, German Party, James Joyce,
Isak Dinesen, The Death of Virgil, Bertolt Brecht,
Denys Finch-Hatton, Karl Kraus,
Franz Kafka, French Revolution, The Threepenny Opera,
Weimar Republic, Manual of Piety, Moscow Trials,
Nathan the Wise
精彩点评
Intellectual portraits that augment human dignity
（Shalom Freedman）
These portraits of Karl Jaspers, Waldemar Gurian,
Randall Jarrell, Walter Benjamin, Isak Dinesen,
Bertolhdt Brecht, Pope John XXIII
are remarkable for their human insight,
their narrative power
and their philosophical understanding.
Arendt makes of each portrait a life- story,
often a most moving story, and a presentation
and critical assessment of the figure 's life- work.
In some cases she had a central part in introducing
to an English reading audience seminal figures
(Walter Benjamin and Hermann Broch
are the outstanding examples)
who were far less well known,
than they would come to be.
She chooses figures
whose power of creation is great and unique,
and she assesses them
in terms of her own set of categories and understandings.
One outstanding instance is her evaluation
it is really a laudation a work of praise
for the great Pope John XXIII.
She speaks of his remarkable simplicity,
humanity and courage.
His simple great faith
"Every day is a good day to be born,
and every day is a good day to die"
讲解
Some of the portraits
are of personal acquaintances and friends.
And one feels that in writing about them
she is somehow doing for them what she in her
"The Human Condition" spoke about
as the role of the poet the immortalization of the hero
and their deeds.
She has a wonderful eye and her description
for instance of the awkwardness
with material things of Waldemar Gurian
catches the essence of the person in a striking way.
All in all the portraits of Men in Dark Times
shed light on the human character and soul,
and are a testimony
not only to the greatness of the subjects
but to the greatness of the writer herself.
讲解
Hannah Arendt's Political Biographies（A reader）
Men in Dark Times is a collection of biographical essays
Arendt wrote over a period of 15 years (1955-1968),
all of which were published elsewhere,
and collected here under this title.
She has chosen to collct her portraits of cultural
and political figures
who worked and were caught up in world affairs
in the first half of the twentieth-century,
figures such as Rosa Luxemburg,
Karl Jaspers, Isak Dinesen,
Walter Benjamin, and Bertolt Brecht.
讲解
The opening essay,
"On Humanity in Dark Times: Thoughts about Lessing,"
focuses on the thought
of the eighteenth-century German philosopher,
and she uses his thoughts on friendship,
on the political and civic aspects of friendship,
the ways in which philosophical and political works
are formed through civic friendship,
to tie all of the personae discussed in the book together.
She sees them all as struggling to produce in an era
racked by political upheaval.
As always, she writes with a highly astute critical eye
and a sharp tongue.
It is one of her more polemical works,
and is sure to make one re-evaluate
how we look not only at the lives
and works of those she tells us about,
but also about ourselves.
讲解
出版社：江苏教育出版社
出版日期：2006-7-1
字数：218000