Tag Archives: Stefan Zweig

Encore Marie Antoinette

This week, Abbie revisits the unforgettable story of Marie Antoinette. First shared in an earlier column, Encore Marie Antoinette reflects on what made the Queen of France so captivating—and so condemned. Was she a symbol, a scapegoat, or simply herself? … Continue reading

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“Worldliness”

“Worldliness”  My father, the late Henry M. Rosenthal, was the antithesis of a worldly man. “He never made a useful friend,” as someone said who was well placed to know. Speaking at his memorial service, a college classmate recalled, “We … Continue reading

Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, academe, action, alienation, art, autonomy, chivalry, cities, class, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courtship, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, ethics, evil, existentialism, faith, fashion, freedom, friendship, guilt and innocence, history, history of ideas, identity, ideology, idolatry, institutional power, Jews, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, masculinity, memoir, modernism, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, power, psychology, reductionism, relationships, roles, seduction, social conventions, sociobiology, spirituality, suffering, terror, the examined life, the problematic of men, theism, time, twentieth century, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

“Encore Marie Antoinette”

“Encore Marie Antoinette” Last night, I read to its sad finale Stefan Zweig’s can’t-be-more-definitive biography of Marie Antoinette, the unluckiest Queen of France. She got a passing mention in “My Inner French Girl,” not a very respectful notice, but now … Continue reading

Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, action, alienation, art, autonomy, chivalry, class, courtship, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, ethics, evil, faith, fashion, femininity, freedom, friendship, gender balance, guilt and innocence, history, history of ideas, identity, ideology, institutional power, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, masculinity, memoir, motherhood, nineteenth-century, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, political, political movements, power, psychology, relationships, roles, seduction, sexuality, social conventions, spirituality, suffering, the problematic of woman, war, Zeitgeist | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

“My Inner French Girl”

“My Inner French Girl” Lately I’ve been reading a book with the charming title, Entre Nous: A Woman’s Guide to Finding Her Inner French Girl. The author, Debra Ollivier, was married to a Frenchman and lived there ten years. We … Continue reading

Posted in action, alienation, art, autonomy, cities, class, cool, culture, desire, erotic life, fashion, femininity, freedom, friendship, gender balance, history, identity, ideology, political, political movements, power, psychology, relationships, roles, sex appeal, sexuality, social conventions, suffering, the examined life, the problematic of woman, war | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

“Places”

“Places” “There are no places anymore.” This was the complaint we two hitchhikers, Anna and me, heard from an American traveler at a roadside stop. Our informant — who was saying this to his two compatriots many decades back — … Continue reading

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