The Temptation of Innocence: Living in the Age of Entitlement (French : La tentation de l'innocence) is a 1995 book by the French philosopher Pascal Bruckner. Bruckner argues against contemporary trends of applying victimhood, real or imagined, to justify infantilisation, a lack of responsibility or even oppression of others. The book received the Prix Médicis essai. [1] It was published in English in 2000. [2]
Publishers Weekly wrote:
Bruckner's European education, which he wears lightly; his unpreachy, aphoristic style; and his obvious delight in paradox save this book from the ranks of a tedious diatribe against permissiveness. Citings of Europe's philosophical and literary masters (Rousseau, Hegel, Nietzsche among many others) help Bruckner, who is French (this admirable translation is not, alas, credited), make the case that the modern individual, weakened by responsibilities of freedom too great to bear, finds freedom in weakness itself: the freedom from moral constraint. ... Bruckner should find a ready audience among philosophically inclined readers who bring a skeptical eye to contemporary trends and agree that freedom from responsibility is no freedom at all. [3]
Emmanuel Levinas was a French philosopher of Lithuanian Jewish ancestry who is known for his work within Jewish philosophy, existentialism, and phenomenology, focusing on the relationship of ethics to metaphysics and ontology.
The Prix Femina is a French literary prize awarded each year by an exclusively female jury. The prize, which was established in 1904, is awarded to French-language works written in prose or verse by male or female writers, and is announced on the first Wednesday of November each year. Four categories of prizes are awarded: Prix Femina, Prix Femina essai, Prix Femina étranger, and Prix Femina des lycéens. A Prix Femina spécial is occasionally awarded.
Ferit Orhan Pamuk is a Turkish novelist, screenwriter, academic, and recipient of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature. One of Turkey's most prominent novelists, he has sold over 13 million books in 63 languages, making him the country's best-selling writer.
White guilt is a belief that white people bear a collective responsibility for the harm which has resulted from historical or current racist treatment of people belonging to other ethnic groups, as for example in the context of the Atlantic slave trade, European colonialism, and the genocide of indigenous peoples.
Éditions Gallimard, formerly Éditions de la Nouvelle Revue Française (1911–1919) and Librairie Gallimard (1919–1961), is one of the leading French book publishers. In 2003, it and its subsidiaries published 1,418 titles.
Pascal Bruckner is a French writer, one of the "New Philosophers" who came to prominence in the 1970s and 1980s. Much of his work has been devoted to critiques of French society and culture.
André Boucourechliev was a French composer of Bulgarian origin.
Pierre Guyotat was a French literary avant-garde writer who wrote fiction, non-fiction, and plays. He is best known for his 1967 novel Tombeau pour cinq cent mille soldats, about his experiences in the Algerian War, and his 1970 novel Eden, Eden, Eden, which was banned for its explicit content. Many of his novels are set in imaginary north African war zones. Idiotie won the Prix Medicis.
Jean-Philippe Toussaint is a Belgian novelist, photographer and filmmaker. His books have been translated into more than twenty languages and he has had his photographs displayed in Brussels and Japan. Toussaint won the Prix Médicis in 2005 for his novel Fuir, the second volume of the « Cycle of Marie », a four-tome chronicle published over ten years and displaying the separation of Marie and her lover. His 2009 novel La Vérité sur Marie, third volume of the cycle, won the Prix Décembre.
Éditions Grasset is a French publishing house founded in 1907 by Bernard Grasset (1881–1955). Grasset publishes French and foreign literature, essays, novels and children's books, among others.
Gwenaëlle Aubry is a French novelist and philosopher.
Laurence Ruel, known by her pen name Camille Laurens, is a French writer and winner of the 2000 Prix Femina for Dans ces bras-là. Laurens is a member of the Académie Goncourt.
Hervé Edwy Plenel is a French political journalist.
Maylis de Kerangal is a French author. Her novels deeply explore people in their work lives. She has won many awards for her work, and her novels have been published in several languages. Two have been adapted as films.
The Consolations of the Forest: Alone in a Cabin on the Siberian Taiga is a 2011 book by the French writer Sylvain Tesson. Its French title is Dans les forêts de Sibérie, which means "in the forests of Siberia". It recounts how Tesson lived isolated for six months, from February to July 2010, in a cabin in Siberia, on the northwestern shore of Lake Baikal. An English translation by Linda Coverdale was published in 2013.
Evil Angels is a 1981 novel by the French writer Pascal Bruckner. The French title is Lunes de fiel, which literally means "moons of bile", a pun on "lune de miel", "honeymoon". The story takes place on a passenger ship heading from Marseille to Istanbul, and focuses on a couple who meet a man determined to break them apart. The book was published by Éditions du Seuil. It was published in English in 1987, translated by William R. Beer.
Jérôme Garcin is a French journalist and writer. He heads the cultural section of the Nouvel Observateur, produces and hosts the radio programme Le Masque et la Plume on France Inter, and is a member of the reading committee of the Comédie-Française.
Mathieu Laine is a French entrepreneur and intellectual.
The Tyranny of Guilt: An Essay on Western Masochism is a book by Pascal Bruckner about the origin and political impact of the contemporary political culture of Western guilt. It was published in French in 2006 as La Tyrannie de la Pénitence: Essai sur le Masochisme Occidental and in English in 2010.
Emmanuelle Bayamack-Tam is a French writer. She also writes under the pseudonym Rebecca Lighieri. In 2022, she was awarded the Prix Médicis for her novel La Treizième Heure.