David Michael Kleinberg-Levin Boeken

The book critiques the limitations of reason, urging readers to embrace a deeper sense of responsibility towards nature and humanity. It challenges conventional thinking and encourages a more empathetic and ethical approach to our interactions with the environment and each other. Through this exploration, it aims to inspire a transformative perspective that prioritizes care and stewardship in our lives.

Probing study of how literature can redeem the revelatory, redemptive powers of language. In this probing look at Alfred Döblin’s 1929 novel Berlin Alexanderplatz and the stories of W. G. Sebald, Redeeming Words offers a philosophical meditation on the power of language in literature. David Kleinberg-Levin draws on the critical theory of Benjamin and Adorno; the idealism and romanticism of Kant, Hegel, Hölderlin, Novalis, and Schelling; and the nineteenth- and twentieth-century thought of Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Derrida. He shows how Döblin and Sebald—writers with radically different styles working in different historical moments—have in common a struggle against forces of negativity and an aim to bring about in response a certain redemption of language. Kleinberg-Levin considers the fast-paced, staccato, and hard-cut sentences of Döblin and the ghostly, languorous, and melancholy prose fiction of Sebald to articulate how both writers use language in an attempt to recover and convey this utopian promise of happiness for life in a time of mourning.

This is a unique study, contuining the work of Merleau-Ponty and Heidegger, and using the techniques of phenomenology against the prevailing nihilism of our culture. It expands our understanding of the human potential for spiritual self-realization by interpreting it as the developing of a bodily-felt awareness informing our gestures and movements. The author argues that a psychological focus on our experience of well-being and pathology as embodied beings contributes significantly to a historically relevant critique of ideology. It also provides an essential touchstone in experience for a fruitful individual and collective response to the danger of nihilism.Dr Levin draws on Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology to clarify Heidegger's analytic of human beings through an interpretation that focuses on our experience of being embodied. He reconstructs in modern terms the wisdom implicit in western and semitic forms of religion and philosophy, considering the work of Freud, Jung, Focault and Neitzsche, as well as that of American educational philosophers, including Dewey. In particular, he draws on the psychology of Freud and Jung to clarify our historical experience of gesture and movement and to bring to light its potential in the fulfilment of Selfhood. Throughout the book, the pathologies of the ego and its journey into Selfhood are considered in relation to the conditons of technology and the powers of nihilism.

Exploring the implications of Heidegger's philosophy, this work presents a fresh interpretation that connects his ideas to contemporary ethical living. It delves into how his existential concepts can inform our understanding of morality and guide the development of a meaningful life in today's world. The book emphasizes the relevance of Heidegger's thoughts for fostering a responsible and authentic existence, aiming to inspire readers to reflect on their values and actions in light of his philosophical insights.

Exploring the transformative nature of language, this book delves into literature's ability to reveal and redeem human experiences. It examines how words can convey profound truths and foster understanding, highlighting the interplay between language and personal or collective redemption. Through various literary examples, the author articulates the unique power of storytelling to illuminate the human condition and inspire hope.