The Tyranny of Guilt: An Essay on Western Masochism

254 Pages·2010·3.83 MB·English

by  Pascal Bruckner

The Tyranny of Guilt
•
Pascal Bruckner
Translated from the French by steven rendall
The tyranny of Guilt
An Essay on Western Masochism
•
Princeton university Press
Princeton and Oxford
english translation copyright © 2010 by Princeton university Press
First published as La tyrannie de la pénitence: essai sur le masochisme
occidental by Pascal Bruckner, copyright © 2006 by Grasset & Fasquelle
Published by Princeton university Press, 41 William street,
Princeton, new Jersey 08540
in the united kingdom: Princeton university Press, 6 oxford street,
Woodstock, oxfordshire OX20 1TW
press.princeton.edu
all rights reserved
library of congress cataloging-in-Publication data
Bruckner, Pascal.
[tyrannie de la pénitence. english]
The tyranny of guilt: an essay on Western masochism / Pascal Bruckner;
translated from the French by steven rendall.
p. cm.
includes index.
isBn 978-0-691-14376-7 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. civilization, Western—
20th century. 2. civilization, Western—21st century. 3. international
relations—Moral and ethical aspects. 4. Western countries—Foreign
relations. 5. Western countries—intellectual life. 6. Guilt 7. self-hate
(Psychology) 8. World politics. i. title.
CB245.B7613 2010
909’.09821--dc22 2009032666
British library cataloging-in-Publication data is available
cet ouvrage, publié dans le cadre d’un programme d’aide à la publication,
bénéficie du soutien du Ministère des affaires étrangères et du service
culturel de l’ambassade de France aux etats-unis.
This work, published as part of a program of aid for publication, received
support from the French Ministry of Foreign affairs and the cultural
services of the French embassy in the united states.
This book has been composed in Minion Pro
Printed on acid-free paper. ∞
Printed in the united states of america
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Laurent Aublin, my oldest and most
loyal friend, in memory of the dormitory
at Henri-IV and the Dôme des Écrins
•
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i’ve drunk too much of the black blood of the dead.
—Michelet
We live in a time when men, driven by mediocre,
ferocious ideologies, are becoming used to being
ashamed of everything. ashamed of themselves,
ashamed to be happy, to love and to create . . . .
so we have to feel guilty. We are being dragged
before the secular confessional, the worst of all.
—Albert Camus
Actuelles. Écrits politiques, 1948
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Contents
•
Introduction 1
Chapter one
Guilt Peddlers 5
The Irremediable and Despondency 6
The Ideology That Stammers 9
The Self-Flagellants of the Western World 13
A Thirst for Punishment 22
Chapter two
The Pathologies of Debt 27
Placing the Enemy in One’s Heart 28
The Vanities of Self-Hatred 33
One-Way Repentance 40
The False Quarrel over Islamophobia 47
Chapter three
Innocence Recovered 57
How Central Is the Near East? 59
“Zionism, the Criminal DNA of Humanity” 62
Unmasking the Usurper 67
A Delicate Arbitrage 74
America Doubly Damned 80