https://www.scribd.com/book/246534996/The-Spinoza-Problem-a-novel
The Spinoza Problem
Irvin D. Yalom
4.23
12,605 ratings1,038 reviews
When sixteen-year-old Alfred Rosenberg is called into his headmaster’s office for anti-Semitic remarks he made during a school speech, he is forced, as punishment, to memorize passages about Spinoza from the autobiography of the German poet Goethe.
Rosenberg is stunned to discover that Goethe, his idol, was a great admirer of the Jewish seventeenth-century philosopher Baruch Spinoza. Long after graduation, Rosenberg remains haunted by this “Spinoza problem”: how could the German genius Goethe have been inspired by a member of a race Rosenberg considers so inferior to his own, a race he was determined to destroy?
Spinoza himself was no stranger to punishment during his lifetime. Because of his unorthodox religious views, he was excommunicated from the Amsterdam Jewish community in 1656, at the age of twenty-four, and banished from the only world he had ever known. Though his life was short and he lived without means in great isolation, he nonetheless produced works that changed the course of history.
Over the years, Rosenberg rose through the ranks to become an outspoken Nazi ideologue, a faithful servant of Hitler, and the main author of racial policy for the Third Reich. Still, his Spinoza obsession lingered.
By imagining the unexpected intersection of Spinoza’s life with Rosenberg’s, internationally bestselling novelist Irvin D. Yalom explores the mindsets of two men separated by 300 years.
Spinoza himself was no stranger to punishment during his lifetime. Because of his unorthodox religious views, he was excommunicated from the Amsterdam Jewish community in 1656, at the age of twenty-four, and banished from the only world he had ever known. Though his life was short and he lived without means in great isolation, he nonetheless produced works that changed the course of history.
Over the years, Rosenberg rose through the ranks to become an outspoken Nazi ideologue, a faithful servant of Hitler, and the main author of racial policy for the Third Reich. Still, his Spinoza obsession lingered.
By imagining the unexpected intersection of Spinoza’s life with Rosenberg’s, internationally bestselling novelist Irvin D. Yalom explores the mindsets of two men separated by 300 years.
Using his skills as a psychiatrist, he explores the inner lives of Spinoza, the saintly secular philosopher, and of Rosenberg, the godless mass murderer.
GenresPhilosophyFictionPsychologyHistorical FictionNovelsLiteratureReligion
...more
321 pages, Hardcover
Irvin David Yalom, M.D., is an author of fiction and nonfiction, Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry at Stanford University, an existentialist, and accomplished psychotherapist.
4.23
12,605 ratings1,038 reviews
5 stars
Displaying 1 - 10 of 1,038 reviews
Kalliope
665 reviews · 22 followers
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March 24, 2015
I should have known better.
I should have known that this would not be a book for me.
My interest was to learn more about Spinoza. Coward that I am, I thought that a semi-fictional approach to the Dutch thinker would be a smooth way to approach him. The book seemed also to offer an original angle. What would be the link between this 17C Dutch thinker, also Jewish, and a Nazi ideologue?
Dr. Yalom, (Emeritus in Psychiatry at Stanford), also seems to have a strong following of enthusiastic readers.
The structure is certainly effective. Chapters alternate between Bento Spinoza alternate and Alfred Rosenberg. This is a similar structure to the very different book, Evening in the Palace of Reason: Bach Meets Frederick the Great in the Age of Enlightenment. Swinging between one and the other keeps the reader entertained awakens his curiosity in the story. The pursuit of the supposed link between these two figures certainly adds dynamism to the reading.
And yet, I was not convinced nor satisfied.
The most valuable was what I learnt about Alfred Rosenberg (1893-1949). Originally from Latvia, he lived and studied in Moscow but eventually moved to Germany. In Munich he met Hitler early on. This was in 1919 when the Austrian was still little known. During Hitler’s imprisonment after his attempted coup in 1923, Rosenberg was appointed the Leader of the National Socialists. As he had very strong notions both on race and religion, he became one of the main theoreticians of the movement. It seems he was, however, not well liked by the other Nazi cronies (and this provides rich ground for a psychoanalyst). This did not prevent his playing a key role during the times the Nazis were in power. He was accused and sentenced to death during the Nuremberg trials.
It seems he also had an obsession with Spinoza and even if the Jewish community, through the most severe of the ‘cherems’, had expelled the philosopher, Rosenberg could not reconcile that even if Spinoza had rejected his religion, that he was nonetheless a Jew.
The book fleshes this out in a mixture between psychoanalysis and historical fiction. Yolem has invented a couple of characters who serve as his mouthpieces. Through these he questions his two protagonists. Or rather, he certainly puts Rosenberg in the couch, in whom he detects inferiority complexes arising out of his childhood, but is more respectful of Spinoza. The Dutch thinker is given another chair and allowed to formulate many questions.
I found the Spinoza sections the most unsatisfying. Almost all the attention is given to his (non) religion and his conflict with the Jewish community. The task to bring Spinoza alive is not easy. Having been expelled from his community when he was in his twenties, so that not even his brother or sister could approach him, we now know very little about his life.
Clues about other aspects of his thinking, apart from the religious one, are scant. The historical settings are also not believable. Apart from the titles of the chapters with dates, inclusion of a few names of places, and the detail that Spinoza eats Dutch cheese (really!), one has no sense that we are transported neither to a particular place nor back in time.
Whether we are in Germany in the second quarter of the 20C or in Holland in the 17C, the voices are the same. They are all coming out of a ventriloquist sitting next to a couch.
Ah, and don’t ask me what was the connection, or 'Problem', between the two figures. Tenuous indeed.
I was very close to abandoning the read, but my own neurosis prevented me.
May be I should visit a shrink.
Show more2015 biography historical-fiction
...more
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43 comments
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Shaghayegh
244 reviews · 297 followers
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July 19, 2020
What really happened in Yalom's mind that he was able to connect Espionza to Rosenberg?
How did such an idea come to his mind?
What are these minds made of?
Why don't we have these minds?
108 likes
12 comments
Like
Comment
BlackOxford
1,081 reviews · 67.6k followers
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April 25, 2020
The Very Refuse of Thy Deeds
The ethical principles of justice and charity are the enduring legacy of Judaism. Through countless generations of the Jewish community, they have been transmitted to Christianity and Islam, and through them to the world, as the essential foundations of what most of us can agree is civilized society.
Yalom recognizes this Judaic contribution to human existence. He also recognizes that without the cultic and social loyalty of Jews throughout the centuries, such a contribution would not have survived as more than the short-lived refuse of tribal convention. It is the perennial insistence, one might say obstinance, of the community that has been necessary to provide "a light to the Gentiles."
Yalom also recognizes the philosophical problem created by the success of the Jewish community. His tale, in fact, follows two threads of this problem. The first thread is represented by the life of Baruch Spinoza, a 17th century Jewish philosopher. Spinoza accepted the ethical demands of justice and charity but rejected their cultic and social matrix. Consequently he was excommunicated, one might say unjustly and certainly with little indication of charity, from the Jewish community. This is the philosophical problem presented by an ethical community: must it be willing to contradict it own teaching in order to ensure its ability to teach?
The second thread is also connected with the success of the Jewish community. This success has always been achieved in the face of enormous historical forces aimed at destroying Judaism and its contributions - most recently the insanity of European fascism. Yalom uses a fictionalised biography of the leading Nazi theorist, Alfred Rosenberg, as his protagonist to make a point: an important reason for anti-Semitism is the very survival of Judaism, both as a religious community and as a dominant component of European culture. In Yalom's narrative Rosenberg's virulent anti-Semitism is made problematic by the attested devotion of the German poet and national symbol, Johann von Goethe to the Jew, Spinoza. Goethe as well as Rosenberg are themselves the product of Jewish culture.
These two issues are the components of the eponymous Spinoza Problem as presented by Yalom. On the one hand the Jewish community is a necessary condition for achieving what it has accomplished - a relatively civilised society. On the other hand this same community attracts destruction from within and without itself because of what it has achieved. Yalom does an outstanding job of articulating this problem, actually a paradox, as the existential condition of Judaism. He subtly compares this 'Jewish problem' with a parallel problem in the psychiatric community: are there neuroses, for example the fanatical anti-Semitism of an Alfred Rosenberg, which should be 'excommunicated' as beyond hope of correction?
What Yalom is not so good at appreciating is the theological significance of the problem - from psychiatric as well as Jewish perspectives. He makes it clear through comments by his narrator that for him theology is equivalent to superstition, that the scientific attitude of men like Spinoza and his successors in the Enlightenment (especially Kant) make theology not only silly but dangerous. Theology, for Yalom, is the creating of God in the image of man, and should be stopped because it then tries to impose this image as true. Psycho-analysis is the alternative to superstition and as such is a rational substitute for theology.
Yalom obviously has a point. Theology has as often as not been used to justify whatever structure of power happens to be in place - males, believers, monarchists, democrats, fascists, clerics and other assorted bullies from the era of Socrates to the era of Trump. But then the same could be said of much of psychology and sociology, not to mention the hard science directed toward commercial or military superiority. All human inquiry, not just theology, is affected by what is perceived as human interests. There is no disinterested inquiry, nor should there be in a world that has problems to solve.
Yalom misses this point, although it is implicit in his formulation of the novelistic situation. Justice and charity, even supposing we can agree on a single definition of what they might be, are incommensurable on the face of it. This is a fundamental problem. The two criteria (or virtues, or values) are contrary, although not necessarily contradictory, aspects of what philosophers call the Good. As such there is no rational way to make a 'trade-off' between these two criteria of the Good in any real situation. Until the two terns can be somehow reconciled, justice and charity remain abstract and ethically sterile.
The role of theology is precisely to create such a reconciliation between contrary Goods. It does this not by creating an image of God in human form, but by probing for a 'bigger' criterion of the Good which includes both justice and charity, in the manner say that Relativity Physics includes Newtonian Physics as a special case, or the way in which Euler's Theorem unifies radically different universes of numbers in mathematics.
The image that theology creates, therefore, is not of humanity writ cosmically large, but of individual human beings unified with each other in community. The greater the number of people involved, the more difficult the problem of unification, and the closer one comes to that unachievable asymptote, theologically termed 'God'. The problem being addressed in theology is precisely that raised as paradox by Yalom: the status of the individual in a community and the status of a community in a larger community.
Theology, done right, doesn't attempt to be interest-free but interest-inclusive. The image created by theological investigation is also, therefore, not that of any random or arbitrary human being but the specific human being called by Emmanuel Levinas the Other. This Other, whether a person or another community, is the principal locus of divine revelation and, consequently, of the concrete meaning of justice and charity. More theology, more sweeping up of the refuse that is humanity, not less, is the solution to the Spinoza Problem.
american philosophy-theology
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Nikos Tsentemeidis
395 reviews · 196 followers
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January 25, 2016
I had read Nietzsche originally and liked it very much. For Spinoza and his other books I had read criticisms that Yalom is repeating himself for commercial success. This view was quickly disproved. The only thing that is certain is that Yalom writes very beautifully, you are never bored and you spend your time very pleasantly.
Beyond that, I think this work is better than Nietzsche, especially if you're interested in philosophy, specifically Epicurus and Spinoza. Even otherwise, he urges you to engage with the two leading philosophers.
Apart from the book, I consider Epicurus the most important philosopher of all time, even if he is a bit unknown to the general public, even the Greek one. As for Spinoza, I learned interesting things that I did not know, such as that in a critical period in Europe before the Enlightenment began, he dared more than anyone else with his writings to question the seals of religion, a few years after Galileo was condemned by the Inquisition .
According to Yalom, Spinoza was a great inspiration for Goethe, that great German man of letters.
american-literature
78 likes
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Ahmad Sharabiani
9,568 reviews · 54.8k followers
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July 27, 2021
The Spinoza Problem, Irvin D. Yalom
A novel by the masterful storyteller and psychotherapist Irvin Yalom interweaves the philosophical life of Benedict Spinoza with the story of the obsessive Nazi philosopher Alfred Rosenberg.
Irvin D. Yalom explores the mindsets of two men separated by 300 years.
Using his skills as a psychiatrist, he explores the inner lives of Spinoza, the saintly secular philosopher, and of Rosenberg, the godless mass murderer.
Titles published in Iran:
GenresPhilosophyFictionPsychologyHistorical FictionNovelsLiteratureReligion
...more
321 pages, Hardcover
Irvin David Yalom, M.D., is an author of fiction and nonfiction, Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry at Stanford University, an existentialist, and accomplished psychotherapist.
4.23
12,605 ratings1,038 reviews
5 stars
Displaying 1 - 10 of 1,038 reviews
Kalliope
665 reviews · 22 followers
Follow
March 24, 2015
I should have known better.
I should have known that this would not be a book for me.
My interest was to learn more about Spinoza. Coward that I am, I thought that a semi-fictional approach to the Dutch thinker would be a smooth way to approach him. The book seemed also to offer an original angle. What would be the link between this 17C Dutch thinker, also Jewish, and a Nazi ideologue?
Dr. Yalom, (Emeritus in Psychiatry at Stanford), also seems to have a strong following of enthusiastic readers.
The structure is certainly effective. Chapters alternate between Bento Spinoza alternate and Alfred Rosenberg. This is a similar structure to the very different book, Evening in the Palace of Reason: Bach Meets Frederick the Great in the Age of Enlightenment. Swinging between one and the other keeps the reader entertained awakens his curiosity in the story. The pursuit of the supposed link between these two figures certainly adds dynamism to the reading.
And yet, I was not convinced nor satisfied.
The most valuable was what I learnt about Alfred Rosenberg (1893-1949). Originally from Latvia, he lived and studied in Moscow but eventually moved to Germany. In Munich he met Hitler early on. This was in 1919 when the Austrian was still little known. During Hitler’s imprisonment after his attempted coup in 1923, Rosenberg was appointed the Leader of the National Socialists. As he had very strong notions both on race and religion, he became one of the main theoreticians of the movement. It seems he was, however, not well liked by the other Nazi cronies (and this provides rich ground for a psychoanalyst). This did not prevent his playing a key role during the times the Nazis were in power. He was accused and sentenced to death during the Nuremberg trials.
It seems he also had an obsession with Spinoza and even if the Jewish community, through the most severe of the ‘cherems’, had expelled the philosopher, Rosenberg could not reconcile that even if Spinoza had rejected his religion, that he was nonetheless a Jew.
The book fleshes this out in a mixture between psychoanalysis and historical fiction. Yolem has invented a couple of characters who serve as his mouthpieces. Through these he questions his two protagonists. Or rather, he certainly puts Rosenberg in the couch, in whom he detects inferiority complexes arising out of his childhood, but is more respectful of Spinoza. The Dutch thinker is given another chair and allowed to formulate many questions.
I found the Spinoza sections the most unsatisfying. Almost all the attention is given to his (non) religion and his conflict with the Jewish community. The task to bring Spinoza alive is not easy. Having been expelled from his community when he was in his twenties, so that not even his brother or sister could approach him, we now know very little about his life.
Clues about other aspects of his thinking, apart from the religious one, are scant. The historical settings are also not believable. Apart from the titles of the chapters with dates, inclusion of a few names of places, and the detail that Spinoza eats Dutch cheese (really!), one has no sense that we are transported neither to a particular place nor back in time.
Whether we are in Germany in the second quarter of the 20C or in Holland in the 17C, the voices are the same. They are all coming out of a ventriloquist sitting next to a couch.
Ah, and don’t ask me what was the connection, or 'Problem', between the two figures. Tenuous indeed.
I was very close to abandoning the read, but my own neurosis prevented me.
May be I should visit a shrink.
Show more2015 biography historical-fiction
...more
116 likes
43 comments
Like
Comment
Shaghayegh
244 reviews · 297 followers
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July 19, 2020
What really happened in Yalom's mind that he was able to connect Espionza to Rosenberg?
How did such an idea come to his mind?
What are these minds made of?
Why don't we have these minds?
108 likes
12 comments
Like
Comment
BlackOxford
1,081 reviews · 67.6k followers
Follow
April 25, 2020
The Very Refuse of Thy Deeds
The ethical principles of justice and charity are the enduring legacy of Judaism. Through countless generations of the Jewish community, they have been transmitted to Christianity and Islam, and through them to the world, as the essential foundations of what most of us can agree is civilized society.
Yalom recognizes this Judaic contribution to human existence. He also recognizes that without the cultic and social loyalty of Jews throughout the centuries, such a contribution would not have survived as more than the short-lived refuse of tribal convention. It is the perennial insistence, one might say obstinance, of the community that has been necessary to provide "a light to the Gentiles."
Yalom also recognizes the philosophical problem created by the success of the Jewish community. His tale, in fact, follows two threads of this problem. The first thread is represented by the life of Baruch Spinoza, a 17th century Jewish philosopher. Spinoza accepted the ethical demands of justice and charity but rejected their cultic and social matrix. Consequently he was excommunicated, one might say unjustly and certainly with little indication of charity, from the Jewish community. This is the philosophical problem presented by an ethical community: must it be willing to contradict it own teaching in order to ensure its ability to teach?
The second thread is also connected with the success of the Jewish community. This success has always been achieved in the face of enormous historical forces aimed at destroying Judaism and its contributions - most recently the insanity of European fascism. Yalom uses a fictionalised biography of the leading Nazi theorist, Alfred Rosenberg, as his protagonist to make a point: an important reason for anti-Semitism is the very survival of Judaism, both as a religious community and as a dominant component of European culture. In Yalom's narrative Rosenberg's virulent anti-Semitism is made problematic by the attested devotion of the German poet and national symbol, Johann von Goethe to the Jew, Spinoza. Goethe as well as Rosenberg are themselves the product of Jewish culture.
These two issues are the components of the eponymous Spinoza Problem as presented by Yalom. On the one hand the Jewish community is a necessary condition for achieving what it has accomplished - a relatively civilised society. On the other hand this same community attracts destruction from within and without itself because of what it has achieved. Yalom does an outstanding job of articulating this problem, actually a paradox, as the existential condition of Judaism. He subtly compares this 'Jewish problem' with a parallel problem in the psychiatric community: are there neuroses, for example the fanatical anti-Semitism of an Alfred Rosenberg, which should be 'excommunicated' as beyond hope of correction?
What Yalom is not so good at appreciating is the theological significance of the problem - from psychiatric as well as Jewish perspectives. He makes it clear through comments by his narrator that for him theology is equivalent to superstition, that the scientific attitude of men like Spinoza and his successors in the Enlightenment (especially Kant) make theology not only silly but dangerous. Theology, for Yalom, is the creating of God in the image of man, and should be stopped because it then tries to impose this image as true. Psycho-analysis is the alternative to superstition and as such is a rational substitute for theology.
Yalom obviously has a point. Theology has as often as not been used to justify whatever structure of power happens to be in place - males, believers, monarchists, democrats, fascists, clerics and other assorted bullies from the era of Socrates to the era of Trump. But then the same could be said of much of psychology and sociology, not to mention the hard science directed toward commercial or military superiority. All human inquiry, not just theology, is affected by what is perceived as human interests. There is no disinterested inquiry, nor should there be in a world that has problems to solve.
Yalom misses this point, although it is implicit in his formulation of the novelistic situation. Justice and charity, even supposing we can agree on a single definition of what they might be, are incommensurable on the face of it. This is a fundamental problem. The two criteria (or virtues, or values) are contrary, although not necessarily contradictory, aspects of what philosophers call the Good. As such there is no rational way to make a 'trade-off' between these two criteria of the Good in any real situation. Until the two terns can be somehow reconciled, justice and charity remain abstract and ethically sterile.
The role of theology is precisely to create such a reconciliation between contrary Goods. It does this not by creating an image of God in human form, but by probing for a 'bigger' criterion of the Good which includes both justice and charity, in the manner say that Relativity Physics includes Newtonian Physics as a special case, or the way in which Euler's Theorem unifies radically different universes of numbers in mathematics.
The image that theology creates, therefore, is not of humanity writ cosmically large, but of individual human beings unified with each other in community. The greater the number of people involved, the more difficult the problem of unification, and the closer one comes to that unachievable asymptote, theologically termed 'God'. The problem being addressed in theology is precisely that raised as paradox by Yalom: the status of the individual in a community and the status of a community in a larger community.
Theology, done right, doesn't attempt to be interest-free but interest-inclusive. The image created by theological investigation is also, therefore, not that of any random or arbitrary human being but the specific human being called by Emmanuel Levinas the Other. This Other, whether a person or another community, is the principal locus of divine revelation and, consequently, of the concrete meaning of justice and charity. More theology, more sweeping up of the refuse that is humanity, not less, is the solution to the Spinoza Problem.
american philosophy-theology
96 likes
22 comments
Like
Comment
Nikos Tsentemeidis
395 reviews · 196 followers
Follow
January 25, 2016
I had read Nietzsche originally and liked it very much. For Spinoza and his other books I had read criticisms that Yalom is repeating himself for commercial success. This view was quickly disproved. The only thing that is certain is that Yalom writes very beautifully, you are never bored and you spend your time very pleasantly.
Beyond that, I think this work is better than Nietzsche, especially if you're interested in philosophy, specifically Epicurus and Spinoza. Even otherwise, he urges you to engage with the two leading philosophers.
Apart from the book, I consider Epicurus the most important philosopher of all time, even if he is a bit unknown to the general public, even the Greek one. As for Spinoza, I learned interesting things that I did not know, such as that in a critical period in Europe before the Enlightenment began, he dared more than anyone else with his writings to question the seals of religion, a few years after Galileo was condemned by the Inquisition .
According to Yalom, Spinoza was a great inspiration for Goethe, that great German man of letters.
american-literature
78 likes
4 comments
Like
Comment
Ahmad Sharabiani
9,568 reviews · 54.8k followers
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July 27, 2021
The Spinoza Problem, Irvin D. Yalom
A novel by the masterful storyteller and psychotherapist Irvin Yalom interweaves the philosophical life of Benedict Spinoza with the story of the obsessive Nazi philosopher Alfred Rosenberg.
Irvin D. Yalom explores the mindsets of two men separated by 300 years.
Using his skills as a psychiatrist, he explores the inner lives of Spinoza, the saintly secular philosopher, and of Rosenberg, the godless mass murderer.
Titles published in Iran:
"The Problem of Spinoza"; "The problem of Spinoza"; "Spinoza's Enigma"; Author Erwin D. Yalom; The date of the first reading is the 26th day of July 2014 AD
Title: Spinoza's problem; Author Erwin D. Yalom; Translated by Hossein Kazemi Yazdi, Tehran, Sobh Sadegh, first and second editions 2012; on 460 pages; ISBN 9789648403947; Third edition 2013; 5th edition 2015; 6th and 7th editions of 2016; 10th edition of 2018; The subject of the stories of the writers of the United States of America - 21st century
Title: Spinoza's problem; Author: Irvin de Dialum; Golberg Barzin translator; Tehran, Nash Kalagh, 2013; on 472 pages; ISBN 9786009418862;
Title: Spinoza problem; Author: Ervin D. Yalom; Translated by Mohammad Reza Fayazi Bardbar, in collaboration with Zahra Hosseinian; Introduction by Shima Mohsenishini; Editor: Ali Fathi Najafi, Seydhlil Hosseini; Mashhad, song, Daniyal Damon, second edition 2013; on 520 pages; ISBN 9786007061008; Third edition 2014; 5th edition of 2016; 6th edition 2017; 7th edition 2019;
Title: Spinoza's problem; Author Ervin D. Yalom (Yalom); The translator of Bahare Nobahar; Literary editor Mino Debiri-Golchin; Tehran, Qatre Publishing House, first and second editions of 2016; on 478 pages; ISBN 9786001199004; Third edition 2017; 4th edition 2017; 5th edition 2017; 10th edition of 2018; The twelfth edition of 2019;
Title: Spinoza problem; Author: Ervin D. Yalom; Seyyed Mobina Shahroudi Langerdavi translator; Editor Fariba Roshanfekar; Tehran, Mossadegh, 2018; on 496 pages; ISBN 9786226640138; Another edition, Tehran, Spina, 1400; on 488 pages; ISBN 9786227345087;
Title: Spinoza's Enigma; Author Irwin D. Yalom; Translated by Marjan Motamedhosseini (Behvard); Tehran, Navai Maktoob; 2019; on 488 pages; ISBN 9786008958307;
Among the objects that the "Nazi Party" seized during the Second World War, there were books from the "Reinsborch" museum in the country of "Holland". Although that collection contained only a number of dusty books, and it seemed to be useless, but the Nazi commander had ordered to collect them for only one reason, because those books were a good guide to solve the problem of "Spinoza"; In this book, "Ervin Yalom" advances two stories in parallel; First, "the story of Spinoza", the 17th century philosopher, who was rejected from the "Jewish" society; And the second one tells the story of a person named "Alfred Rosenberg", an active ideologist of the "Nazi Party".
A quote from the translated text of Mrs. "Bahareh Nobahar": (My father was burned in the fire a year ago; for what crime? They found pages of the Torah buried in the dirt behind the house; my uncle, Jacob's father, shortly after He was killed. I have a question. Consider a world where a son smells his father's burnt body. Where is the God who created such a world? Why did he allow such things? Do you blame me for this? Do you blame me for asking these things?
Franco looked deeply into Spinoza's eyes for a few moments, and then continued, "Surely the man who is addressed as pardoned—Bento in Portuguese and Baruch in Hebrew—does not refuse to speak to me?"
Spinoza nodded gravely. He nods in approval; "I'm talking to you Franco; how about tomorrow at noon?";
Franco asks: "In the synagogue?";
No, come here. Come to the shop, is the
shop open here? Is it open?
My younger brother Gabriel will represent the Spinoza family in the synagogue.
Jacob, while ignoring the pulling of his sleeve by Franco, emphasizes that: "But it is said in the Holy Torah that God's will is that we do not work on Saturday and in this Let's worship him on his holy day.
Spinoza turns and says softly, as a teacher speaks to his young pupil: "Jacob, tell me if you believe that God is omnipotent?"
Jacob shakes his head,
so surely you agree, which according to the definition, is a complete and perfect essence, unwilling and eager; Isn't that so?
Jacob thinks, hesitates and cautiously nods his head in approval; Spinoza notices the impression of a smile on Franco's lips.) The end of the quotation,
updated date 05/04/1400 AH; A. Sherbiani
21th-century fiction historical
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Fatma Al Zahraa Yehia
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August 5, 2022
"To have these thoughts and think that you are the only one who has these thoughts. To feel that you are the only one with these doubts, that must be terrifying." Page 81
Of course, this is terrifying. Four centuries pass since these words, and there are still those who feel terrified because doubts have occurred to him, because there are different ideas that come to him, because he finds that there is something wrong with what he is taught or told is the absolute truth, and he does not dare to express his doubts out loud. The fate of those who oppose the group is known to all. Expulsion, cursing, or even murder. Spinoza saw that the mind was a gift and a gift that was given to him in order to work his thought around him. Not to believe like the parrots who told him that the true believer is the one who completely nullifies his mind in front of a text, explanations, or laws that were said to be revealed from heaven. Therefore, our hero insisted that he go on his way alone in knowing the truth, the universe and the Creator. That is the path whose tax was the Haram, that is to say, expulsion and ostracism from the community.
Feeling the pain of being deprived of his family and home, Spinoza feels relatively relieved of the burden of living with a group to which he does not belong. But with time, one realizes that one cannot completely uproot oneself. The echo of the prayers and supplications he learned in his childhood always echoes gently in his mind.
Before the end, he returns to Franco, a skeptical believer like himself. But Franco's path to truth takes a more liberal turn than Spinoza's. He believes in the importance of rituals, rituals, religion, and even superstition in life. And raises within Spinoza some doubts about his future denial of religion. Here, too, a question arises that has always circulated in my mind, is it possible for a person to be skeptical and at the same time keen - not out of hypocrisy or fear - to adhere to the performance of all or some of the rituals of the religion to which he belongs?
In another story, which I find less impressive, we see Alfred Rosenberg, a German fanatic of his Aryan race against the Jews. Through a clever and interesting dialogue with his friend and psychiatrist "Friedrich Pfister" we try to gradually enter Rosenberg's self-obsessed, frightened, shaken person who does not understand why he is always an outcast.
The dialogues in the novel were the best of it. Everyone was hiding in him - whether in the story of Spinoza or the story of Rosenberg - what he could not say. Or he can but does not want to say what he is feeling.
Dialogues were like onion skins, which unfolded quietly, layer by layer, until the words finally found their way out, and then freed the soul with a long weight on it.
The novel is a beautiful and enjoyable journey into the human psyche that we cannot comprehend. And a tour with difficult philosophical ideas that the writer simplified in a tale that provokes the mind of those who read it.
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Sawsan
991 reviews · 1,222 followers
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March 10, 2022
Can a Nazi recognize the strength and excellence of the thought of a seventeenth century Jewish philosopher?
Irvin David Yalom combines two famous personalities between real and imagined events,
Spinoza, the daring Jewish philosopher, believer in the superiority of reason, freedom of thought, rejecting
all forms of superstition, and critic of religious authority and the concepts of the clergy
.
From the Jewish community and Alfred Rosenberg , the
Nazi anti-Jewish thinker in the twentieth century, the
founder of theories and the maker of many Nazi policies and ideologies,
despite his strong hatred for Jews.
The novel makes a good presentation of history, politics, and religious philosophy
67 likes
6 comments
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Amani Abusoboh
385 reviews · 162 followers
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August 12, 2022
This is a beautiful and amazing philosophical literary work that discusses a number of major existential questions and issues posed by the thinker Bento Spinoza in the seventeenth century, and he presents many ideas that opposed the Jewish religion, which led to his excommunication from the Jewish community by a decision of the rabbis of the Synagogue.
This aspect of Spinoza's life comes in parallel with the life of one of the most prominent Nazi theorists, Alfred Rosenberg, who contributed to the formation and laying of the foundations of the ideological thought of Nazism; Where his life intersects with Spinoza's biography, he orders his band to plunder the contents of Spinoza's library, to find any solution to the problem of Spinoza and his ideas.
This work, as I mentioned before: is amazing, genius, and its language is very easy, which made reading it fun and a solid work in the mind..
The writer's style fascinated me when I first read to him "When Nietzsche Wept", and I decided to read to him more.. The book of Spinoza's Problem was elegant, as it was in "When Nietzsche cried", with smooth language, and lightness in moving between the times of the novel..
This is a work that I will include Also on the list of the best reads for this year.. I will also conclude this year's reading with his work "The Schopenhauer Therapy", which I am sure will be no less surprising than the works I have read by the author.
.
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Mohammed
400 reviews · 472 followers
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July 24, 2020
The Spinoza Problem I provided a solution to my problem with Spinoza.
I read fragments about Spinoza's ideas here and there, then my curiosity increased when I read an article by Habib Soruri on his philosophical doctrine, so I did not wait any longer and rushed to acquire one of his books. Which book is more closely associated with the Dutch philosopher than "Ethics"? I opened the book, and I saw difficult lines, an introduction full of laws, replete with phrases such as “the quality is what the mind perceives, evaluating its essence.” With two long ears sticking out from the top of my head, I felt like I was in high school math lessons. I left the book on the shelf and tried to tell it about itself every now and then, but it stopped each time.
I had a problem with Spinoza: I wanted to read it, but I couldn't understand it. The situation continued until I stumbled upon the title of this novel in one of the groups, and a lamp lit up my forehead. A novel that talks about Spinoza, presents his ideas and discusses his biography, this is what I hope! Or in Mafia parlance: an offer I can't refuse.
So I rushed to get it (Spinoza seemed to make me run too fast), and started reading it less than a week after I bought it. I almost felt indignant glances at the other books on the waiting shelf, with the exception of the book (The Ethics), which accompanied us with a caring fatherly smile.
The above is not an outsider to the review, but rather the "causal network" that brought me to read the novel. Causality is one of the principles upon which Spinoza builds his rationalist philosophy. He believes that everything has a cause or a set of causes that lead to its occurrence, and he downplays the importance - and perhaps denies - the existence of free will. The Enlightenment philosopher is defined as having dared to criticize the Holy Books and argue with logic, which resulted in his isolation from the Jewish community at the time and the condemnation of his ideas by the Christian Church. His rationalistic views left a clear impact on the scientific doctrine of the Western world, in addition to his bold ideas about divine attributes that continue to stir controversy to this day.
This novel starts from two axes: the story of Spinoza in the seventeenth century, and the story of Alfred Rosenberg, the Nazi thinker in the twentieth century. The novel relies in essence on dialogues to present both Spinozian and Nazi philosophy, and the writer uses it as a tool to access the psychology of each of the two main characters. This feat of philosophy and psychology makes the dialogues fun and interesting despite their length. However, I found it unfair that Rosenberg occupies an area of the narrator similar to that allotted to Spinoza. I am not saying that his story was not interesting. On the contrary, I am one of those who like to meditate on the story of the rise and fall of Nazism. But perhaps it would have been more useful to allocate the greater space to Spinoza. The author credits his helpful notes on separating fiction from factual events in this novel
Thus, I solved two problems with this novel: first, I got to know Spinoza's philosophy in an easy-to-understand manner, and secondly, I knew that I was not the only one who had suffered from the book (Ethics). In Theology and Politics) as a smooth introduction to the philosophy of Baruch or Benedict Spinoza.
Show more
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Mat
92 reviews · 26 followers
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August 9, 2019
In general, I am not interested in psychology books, but my interest in Spinoza made me go to this book.
In this book, the story of two characters in two different centuries is told in parallel. The story of Spinoza and his exclusion from the Jewish community and the story of Alfred Rosenberg, the ideologue of Nazi persecution. The personality and thinking analysis of these people and the intellectual atmosphere ruling their time are examined and the views of these people are looked at from different dimensions.
The debates of the characters in the story make us constantly ask ourselves: What is my opinion? Do I agree or not?. A challenge that is always attractive to me. But what I did not like in this book was its unbalanced rhythm. Some parts were boring and repetitive, and some parts were captivating and fascinating. But in the end, I am satisfied with reading it.
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3 comments
Title: Spinoza's problem; Author Erwin D. Yalom; Translated by Hossein Kazemi Yazdi, Tehran, Sobh Sadegh, first and second editions 2012; on 460 pages; ISBN 9789648403947; Third edition 2013; 5th edition 2015; 6th and 7th editions of 2016; 10th edition of 2018; The subject of the stories of the writers of the United States of America - 21st century
Title: Spinoza's problem; Author: Irvin de Dialum; Golberg Barzin translator; Tehran, Nash Kalagh, 2013; on 472 pages; ISBN 9786009418862;
Title: Spinoza problem; Author: Ervin D. Yalom; Translated by Mohammad Reza Fayazi Bardbar, in collaboration with Zahra Hosseinian; Introduction by Shima Mohsenishini; Editor: Ali Fathi Najafi, Seydhlil Hosseini; Mashhad, song, Daniyal Damon, second edition 2013; on 520 pages; ISBN 9786007061008; Third edition 2014; 5th edition of 2016; 6th edition 2017; 7th edition 2019;
Title: Spinoza's problem; Author Ervin D. Yalom (Yalom); The translator of Bahare Nobahar; Literary editor Mino Debiri-Golchin; Tehran, Qatre Publishing House, first and second editions of 2016; on 478 pages; ISBN 9786001199004; Third edition 2017; 4th edition 2017; 5th edition 2017; 10th edition of 2018; The twelfth edition of 2019;
Title: Spinoza problem; Author: Ervin D. Yalom; Seyyed Mobina Shahroudi Langerdavi translator; Editor Fariba Roshanfekar; Tehran, Mossadegh, 2018; on 496 pages; ISBN 9786226640138; Another edition, Tehran, Spina, 1400; on 488 pages; ISBN 9786227345087;
Title: Spinoza's Enigma; Author Irwin D. Yalom; Translated by Marjan Motamedhosseini (Behvard); Tehran, Navai Maktoob; 2019; on 488 pages; ISBN 9786008958307;
Among the objects that the "Nazi Party" seized during the Second World War, there were books from the "Reinsborch" museum in the country of "Holland". Although that collection contained only a number of dusty books, and it seemed to be useless, but the Nazi commander had ordered to collect them for only one reason, because those books were a good guide to solve the problem of "Spinoza"; In this book, "Ervin Yalom" advances two stories in parallel; First, "the story of Spinoza", the 17th century philosopher, who was rejected from the "Jewish" society; And the second one tells the story of a person named "Alfred Rosenberg", an active ideologist of the "Nazi Party".
A quote from the translated text of Mrs. "Bahareh Nobahar": (My father was burned in the fire a year ago; for what crime? They found pages of the Torah buried in the dirt behind the house; my uncle, Jacob's father, shortly after He was killed. I have a question. Consider a world where a son smells his father's burnt body. Where is the God who created such a world? Why did he allow such things? Do you blame me for this? Do you blame me for asking these things?
Franco looked deeply into Spinoza's eyes for a few moments, and then continued, "Surely the man who is addressed as pardoned—Bento in Portuguese and Baruch in Hebrew—does not refuse to speak to me?"
Spinoza nodded gravely. He nods in approval; "I'm talking to you Franco; how about tomorrow at noon?";
Franco asks: "In the synagogue?";
No, come here. Come to the shop, is the
shop open here? Is it open?
My younger brother Gabriel will represent the Spinoza family in the synagogue.
Jacob, while ignoring the pulling of his sleeve by Franco, emphasizes that: "But it is said in the Holy Torah that God's will is that we do not work on Saturday and in this Let's worship him on his holy day.
Spinoza turns and says softly, as a teacher speaks to his young pupil: "Jacob, tell me if you believe that God is omnipotent?"
Jacob shakes his head,
so surely you agree, which according to the definition, is a complete and perfect essence, unwilling and eager; Isn't that so?
Jacob thinks, hesitates and cautiously nods his head in approval; Spinoza notices the impression of a smile on Franco's lips.) The end of the quotation,
updated date 05/04/1400 AH; A. Sherbiani
21th-century fiction historical
...more
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Fatma Al Zahraa Yehia
380 reviews · 356 followers
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August 5, 2022
"To have these thoughts and think that you are the only one who has these thoughts. To feel that you are the only one with these doubts, that must be terrifying." Page 81
Of course, this is terrifying. Four centuries pass since these words, and there are still those who feel terrified because doubts have occurred to him, because there are different ideas that come to him, because he finds that there is something wrong with what he is taught or told is the absolute truth, and he does not dare to express his doubts out loud. The fate of those who oppose the group is known to all. Expulsion, cursing, or even murder. Spinoza saw that the mind was a gift and a gift that was given to him in order to work his thought around him. Not to believe like the parrots who told him that the true believer is the one who completely nullifies his mind in front of a text, explanations, or laws that were said to be revealed from heaven. Therefore, our hero insisted that he go on his way alone in knowing the truth, the universe and the Creator. That is the path whose tax was the Haram, that is to say, expulsion and ostracism from the community.
Feeling the pain of being deprived of his family and home, Spinoza feels relatively relieved of the burden of living with a group to which he does not belong. But with time, one realizes that one cannot completely uproot oneself. The echo of the prayers and supplications he learned in his childhood always echoes gently in his mind.
Before the end, he returns to Franco, a skeptical believer like himself. But Franco's path to truth takes a more liberal turn than Spinoza's. He believes in the importance of rituals, rituals, religion, and even superstition in life. And raises within Spinoza some doubts about his future denial of religion. Here, too, a question arises that has always circulated in my mind, is it possible for a person to be skeptical and at the same time keen - not out of hypocrisy or fear - to adhere to the performance of all or some of the rituals of the religion to which he belongs?
In another story, which I find less impressive, we see Alfred Rosenberg, a German fanatic of his Aryan race against the Jews. Through a clever and interesting dialogue with his friend and psychiatrist "Friedrich Pfister" we try to gradually enter Rosenberg's self-obsessed, frightened, shaken person who does not understand why he is always an outcast.
The dialogues in the novel were the best of it. Everyone was hiding in him - whether in the story of Spinoza or the story of Rosenberg - what he could not say. Or he can but does not want to say what he is feeling.
Dialogues were like onion skins, which unfolded quietly, layer by layer, until the words finally found their way out, and then freed the soul with a long weight on it.
The novel is a beautiful and enjoyable journey into the human psyche that we cannot comprehend. And a tour with difficult philosophical ideas that the writer simplified in a tale that provokes the mind of those who read it.
liberating-books pdf philosophical-fiction
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Sawsan
991 reviews · 1,222 followers
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March 10, 2022
Can a Nazi recognize the strength and excellence of the thought of a seventeenth century Jewish philosopher?
Irvin David Yalom combines two famous personalities between real and imagined events,
Spinoza, the daring Jewish philosopher, believer in the superiority of reason, freedom of thought, rejecting
all forms of superstition, and critic of religious authority and the concepts of the clergy
.
From the Jewish community and Alfred Rosenberg , the
Nazi anti-Jewish thinker in the twentieth century, the
founder of theories and the maker of many Nazi policies and ideologies,
despite his strong hatred for Jews.
The novel makes a good presentation of history, politics, and religious philosophy
67 likes
6 comments
Like
Comment
Amani Abusoboh
385 reviews · 162 followers
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August 12, 2022
This is a beautiful and amazing philosophical literary work that discusses a number of major existential questions and issues posed by the thinker Bento Spinoza in the seventeenth century, and he presents many ideas that opposed the Jewish religion, which led to his excommunication from the Jewish community by a decision of the rabbis of the Synagogue.
This aspect of Spinoza's life comes in parallel with the life of one of the most prominent Nazi theorists, Alfred Rosenberg, who contributed to the formation and laying of the foundations of the ideological thought of Nazism; Where his life intersects with Spinoza's biography, he orders his band to plunder the contents of Spinoza's library, to find any solution to the problem of Spinoza and his ideas.
This work, as I mentioned before: is amazing, genius, and its language is very easy, which made reading it fun and a solid work in the mind..
The writer's style fascinated me when I first read to him "When Nietzsche Wept", and I decided to read to him more.. The book of Spinoza's Problem was elegant, as it was in "When Nietzsche cried", with smooth language, and lightness in moving between the times of the novel..
This is a work that I will include Also on the list of the best reads for this year.. I will also conclude this year's reading with his work "The Schopenhauer Therapy", which I am sure will be no less surprising than the works I have read by the author.
.
favorite
45 likes
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Mohammed
400 reviews · 472 followers
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July 24, 2020
The Spinoza Problem I provided a solution to my problem with Spinoza.
I read fragments about Spinoza's ideas here and there, then my curiosity increased when I read an article by Habib Soruri on his philosophical doctrine, so I did not wait any longer and rushed to acquire one of his books. Which book is more closely associated with the Dutch philosopher than "Ethics"? I opened the book, and I saw difficult lines, an introduction full of laws, replete with phrases such as “the quality is what the mind perceives, evaluating its essence.” With two long ears sticking out from the top of my head, I felt like I was in high school math lessons. I left the book on the shelf and tried to tell it about itself every now and then, but it stopped each time.
I had a problem with Spinoza: I wanted to read it, but I couldn't understand it. The situation continued until I stumbled upon the title of this novel in one of the groups, and a lamp lit up my forehead. A novel that talks about Spinoza, presents his ideas and discusses his biography, this is what I hope! Or in Mafia parlance: an offer I can't refuse.
So I rushed to get it (Spinoza seemed to make me run too fast), and started reading it less than a week after I bought it. I almost felt indignant glances at the other books on the waiting shelf, with the exception of the book (The Ethics), which accompanied us with a caring fatherly smile.
The above is not an outsider to the review, but rather the "causal network" that brought me to read the novel. Causality is one of the principles upon which Spinoza builds his rationalist philosophy. He believes that everything has a cause or a set of causes that lead to its occurrence, and he downplays the importance - and perhaps denies - the existence of free will. The Enlightenment philosopher is defined as having dared to criticize the Holy Books and argue with logic, which resulted in his isolation from the Jewish community at the time and the condemnation of his ideas by the Christian Church. His rationalistic views left a clear impact on the scientific doctrine of the Western world, in addition to his bold ideas about divine attributes that continue to stir controversy to this day.
This novel starts from two axes: the story of Spinoza in the seventeenth century, and the story of Alfred Rosenberg, the Nazi thinker in the twentieth century. The novel relies in essence on dialogues to present both Spinozian and Nazi philosophy, and the writer uses it as a tool to access the psychology of each of the two main characters. This feat of philosophy and psychology makes the dialogues fun and interesting despite their length. However, I found it unfair that Rosenberg occupies an area of the narrator similar to that allotted to Spinoza. I am not saying that his story was not interesting. On the contrary, I am one of those who like to meditate on the story of the rise and fall of Nazism. But perhaps it would have been more useful to allocate the greater space to Spinoza. The author credits his helpful notes on separating fiction from factual events in this novel
Thus, I solved two problems with this novel: first, I got to know Spinoza's philosophy in an easy-to-understand manner, and secondly, I knew that I was not the only one who had suffered from the book (Ethics). In Theology and Politics) as a smooth introduction to the philosophy of Baruch or Benedict Spinoza.
Show more
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9 comments
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Mat
92 reviews · 26 followers
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August 9, 2019
In general, I am not interested in psychology books, but my interest in Spinoza made me go to this book.
In this book, the story of two characters in two different centuries is told in parallel. The story of Spinoza and his exclusion from the Jewish community and the story of Alfred Rosenberg, the ideologue of Nazi persecution. The personality and thinking analysis of these people and the intellectual atmosphere ruling their time are examined and the views of these people are looked at from different dimensions.
The debates of the characters in the story make us constantly ask ourselves: What is my opinion? Do I agree or not?. A challenge that is always attractive to me. But what I did not like in this book was its unbalanced rhythm. Some parts were boring and repetitive, and some parts were captivating and fascinating. But in the end, I am satisfied with reading it.
37 likes
3 comments
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The Spinoza Problem: a novel Kindle Edition
by Irvin D. Yalom (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.5 out of 5 stars 585 ratings
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In 1909, sixteen-year-old Alfred Rosenberg is called into his headmaster’s office for making anti-Semitic remarks. He is punished by having to memorise passages from the autobiography of Goethe — and is stunned to discover that his idol was a great admirer of the seventeenth-century philosopher Baruch Spinoza.
Spinoza himself was no stranger to punishment: accused of heresy, he was excommunicated from the Jewish community and banished from the only world he had ever known. Nevertheless, he became one of the most influential philosophers of his age.
Long after graduation, Rosenberg is possessed by the ‘Spinoza problem’: how could Goethe, the great German poet, have been inspired by a member of a race that Rosenberg considers inferior to his own? A race that, as he developed from anti-Semitic schoolboy to Nazi propagandist, he would become determined to destroy?
In his brilliant re-creation of the inner worlds of two men separated by 300 years — one dedicated to fashioning a moral philosophy, the other obsessed with the superiority of the Aryan race — internationally bestselling novelist Irvin D. Yalom explores the thin psychological line that separates genius and evil, and the lives of two men who changed the course of history.
Read less
Review
The Spinoza Problem covers a vast amount of extraordinary historical territory.-- "San Francisco Chronicle"
A gifted storyteller...The two tales amount to a mystery novel, although it is a mystery of a very cerebral kind.-- "Jewish Journal"
An accessible introduction to Spinoza's complex philosophy.-- "Washington Post"
Filled with vivid descriptions of place and bursting with brilliant insights...Highly original and absorbing.-- "Jewish Book World"
Highly intriguing...Yalom's ability to make complex ideas and theories accessible is what makes his novels so popular.-- "Tucson Citizen"
Imaginative and erudite.-- "Kirkus Reviews (starred review)"
Why was Nazi leader and propagandist Alfred Rosenberg so obsessed with the seventeenth-century Jewish philosopher Baruch Spinoza?...The author, a psychiatrist, explores this strange juxtaposition of two historical figures with strongly held beliefs and totally different ideas of right and wrong.-- "Booklist"
Yalom does a masterful job in bringing to life Spinoza and his philosophy and connecting it to the apocalyptic history of Nazi Germany and the persona of Alfred Rosenberg. It's the sort of temporal alchemy and alchemy of science and fiction that Yalom does so well.-- "Abraham Verghese, New York Times bestselling author "
Yalom is the perfect author to bring together Spinoza and Rosenberg in a novel...A highly intriguing exploration of the connection between a Jewish philosopher and a Nazi ideologue.-- "Shelf Awareness" --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.
Book Description
"The Spinoza Problem is engrossing, enlightening, disturbing and ultimately deeply satisfying."-Abraham Verghese, author of Cutting for Stone --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.
Read more
Product details
ASIN : B007HWSWOU
Publisher : Scribe (21 March 2012)
Language : English
File size : 675 KB
Text-to-Speech : Enabled
Screen Reader : Supported
Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
X-Ray : Not Enabled
Word Wise : Enabled
Print length : 336 pagesBest Sellers Rank: 200,593 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)180 in Historical Jewish Fiction
202 in Jewish Literature (Kindle Store)
290 in Jewish Literature (Books)Customer Reviews:
4.5 out of 5 stars 585 ratings
About the author
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Irvin D. Yalom
Professor of Psychiatry at Stanford University. Author of nonfiction psychiatry texts, novels, and books of stories. Currently in private practice of psychiatry in Palo Alto and San Francisco, California.
Top reviews from Australia
Mary Hanrahan
4.0 out of 5 stars Very engaging bookReviewed in Australia 🇦🇺 on 28 March 2015
Verified Purchase
I found this book very engaging and was disappointed when I realised that I was near the end and there wouldn't be much more.
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Robin Friedman
5.0 out of 5 stars A Novel About SpinozaReviewed in Australia 🇦🇺 on 29 March 2018
Novels about the life and philosophy of Spinoza (1632 -- 1677) are as difficult as they are rare. In 1837, the German novelist Berthold Auerbach (1812 -- 1884) wrote an unfortunately little-remembered novel, revised in 1854, about Spinoza which focused upon what the author portrayed as the philosopher's ambiguous relationship to Judaism. Much more recently, the renowned American psychotherapist and novelist Irvin Yalom has written a novel with Spinoza as its major figure: "The Spinoza Problem" (2012). Yalom's earlier philosophical novels discuss Schopenhauer and Nietzsche in the context of psychotherapy, and this book as well closely combines Yalom's passion for philosophy with his life work as a therapist.
Yalom's novel skillfully juxtaposes two stories: a history of Spinoza and a history of the Nazi writer Alfred Rosenberg (1883 -- 1946), who was hanged for war crimes at Nuremberg.
Audible sampleFollow the Author
Irvin D. Yalom
Follow
The Spinoza Problem: a novel Kindle Edition
by Irvin D. Yalom (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.5 out of 5 stars 585 ratings
See all formats and editions
Kindle
$16.14Read with Our Free App
Audiobook$0.00Included In Audible Membership
In 1909, sixteen-year-old Alfred Rosenberg is called into his headmaster’s office for making anti-Semitic remarks. He is punished by having to memorise passages from the autobiography of Goethe — and is stunned to discover that his idol was a great admirer of the seventeenth-century philosopher Baruch Spinoza.
Spinoza himself was no stranger to punishment: accused of heresy, he was excommunicated from the Jewish community and banished from the only world he had ever known. Nevertheless, he became one of the most influential philosophers of his age.
Long after graduation, Rosenberg is possessed by the ‘Spinoza problem’: how could Goethe, the great German poet, have been inspired by a member of a race that Rosenberg considers inferior to his own? A race that, as he developed from anti-Semitic schoolboy to Nazi propagandist, he would become determined to destroy?
In his brilliant re-creation of the inner worlds of two men separated by 300 years — one dedicated to fashioning a moral philosophy, the other obsessed with the superiority of the Aryan race — internationally bestselling novelist Irvin D. Yalom explores the thin psychological line that separates genius and evil, and the lives of two men who changed the course of history.
Read less
Review
The Spinoza Problem covers a vast amount of extraordinary historical territory.-- "San Francisco Chronicle"
A gifted storyteller...The two tales amount to a mystery novel, although it is a mystery of a very cerebral kind.-- "Jewish Journal"
An accessible introduction to Spinoza's complex philosophy.-- "Washington Post"
Filled with vivid descriptions of place and bursting with brilliant insights...Highly original and absorbing.-- "Jewish Book World"
Highly intriguing...Yalom's ability to make complex ideas and theories accessible is what makes his novels so popular.-- "Tucson Citizen"
Imaginative and erudite.-- "Kirkus Reviews (starred review)"
Why was Nazi leader and propagandist Alfred Rosenberg so obsessed with the seventeenth-century Jewish philosopher Baruch Spinoza?...The author, a psychiatrist, explores this strange juxtaposition of two historical figures with strongly held beliefs and totally different ideas of right and wrong.-- "Booklist"
Yalom does a masterful job in bringing to life Spinoza and his philosophy and connecting it to the apocalyptic history of Nazi Germany and the persona of Alfred Rosenberg. It's the sort of temporal alchemy and alchemy of science and fiction that Yalom does so well.-- "Abraham Verghese, New York Times bestselling author "
Yalom is the perfect author to bring together Spinoza and Rosenberg in a novel...A highly intriguing exploration of the connection between a Jewish philosopher and a Nazi ideologue.-- "Shelf Awareness" --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.
Book Description
"The Spinoza Problem is engrossing, enlightening, disturbing and ultimately deeply satisfying."-Abraham Verghese, author of Cutting for Stone --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.
Read more
Product details
ASIN : B007HWSWOU
Publisher : Scribe (21 March 2012)
Language : English
File size : 675 KB
Text-to-Speech : Enabled
Screen Reader : Supported
Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
X-Ray : Not Enabled
Word Wise : Enabled
Print length : 336 pagesBest Sellers Rank: 200,593 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)180 in Historical Jewish Fiction
202 in Jewish Literature (Kindle Store)
290 in Jewish Literature (Books)Customer Reviews:
4.5 out of 5 stars 585 ratings
About the author
Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Follow
Irvin D. Yalom
Professor of Psychiatry at Stanford University. Author of nonfiction psychiatry texts, novels, and books of stories. Currently in private practice of psychiatry in Palo Alto and San Francisco, California.
Top reviews from Australia
Mary Hanrahan
4.0 out of 5 stars Very engaging bookReviewed in Australia 🇦🇺 on 28 March 2015
Verified Purchase
I found this book very engaging and was disappointed when I realised that I was near the end and there wouldn't be much more.
HelpfulReport abuse
Robin Friedman
5.0 out of 5 stars A Novel About SpinozaReviewed in Australia 🇦🇺 on 29 March 2018
Novels about the life and philosophy of Spinoza (1632 -- 1677) are as difficult as they are rare. In 1837, the German novelist Berthold Auerbach (1812 -- 1884) wrote an unfortunately little-remembered novel, revised in 1854, about Spinoza which focused upon what the author portrayed as the philosopher's ambiguous relationship to Judaism. Much more recently, the renowned American psychotherapist and novelist Irvin Yalom has written a novel with Spinoza as its major figure: "The Spinoza Problem" (2012). Yalom's earlier philosophical novels discuss Schopenhauer and Nietzsche in the context of psychotherapy, and this book as well closely combines Yalom's passion for philosophy with his life work as a therapist.
Yalom's novel skillfully juxtaposes two stories: a history of Spinoza and a history of the Nazi writer Alfred Rosenberg (1883 -- 1946), who was hanged for war crimes at Nuremberg.
Rosenberg wrote a book called "The Myth of the Twentieth Century" and edited a major Nazi newspaper, among his other activities for the regime. When the Nazis occupied the Netherlands, Rosenberg pillaged the Spinoza House, including its collection of 151 books, which were replicas (not the original copies) of works the philosopher had in his library. The robbery of the Spinoza library is the only known connection between Rosenberg and Spinoza. Yalom makes it the basis of his dual historical story.
The book is a work of fiction and imagination. It is important to separate fact from artistic license, and Yalom endeavors to do so in a note at the end of the novel. The more interesting sections of the book involve the great philosopher. Yalom describes his early life, his training in Judaism, the circumstances leading to his excommunication from the Amsterdam Jewish community, and his subsequent life and writings with great insight, drama, and plausibility. Spinoza's thought is discussed both in the sections of the book set in the Netherlands and in the sections set in Nazi Germany. The exposition is simply presented for lay readers, with the explosive nature of his thinking retained. Yalom draws much of the discussion verbatim from Spinoza's two great books, the "Theological Political Treatise" and the "Ethics"; for the most part, the lengthy philosophical discussions are integrated well with the flow of the novel.
Yalom also offers a philosophical critique of Spinoza which, he recognizes is something of an anachronism. He draws on a study by the American philosopher Rebecca Goldstein, Betraying Spinoza: The Renegade Jew Who Gave Us Modernity (Jewish Encounters) to critique Spinoza's rationalism at the expense of the emotional life. More surprisingly, Yalom introduces a character who critiques Spinoza from the standpoint of a much latter-day secular Reconstructionist Judaism and who is particularly harsh on Spinoza's clearly 17th century attitude towards women.
Yalom mostly imagines novelistically Rosenberg's relationship to Spinoza. He shows the young Rosenberg about to be expelled from his preparatory school for making antisemitic comments in a class election. He is required to read Goethe's autobiography and write out the many laudatory references Goethe makes about Spinoza. Later in the book Rosenberg undergoes therapy with an old family friend (a fictitious character in his entirety) who probes into his depression, isolation, attitude towards Hitler, and increasingly strident antisemitism.
The book is a work of fiction and imagination. It is important to separate fact from artistic license, and Yalom endeavors to do so in a note at the end of the novel. The more interesting sections of the book involve the great philosopher. Yalom describes his early life, his training in Judaism, the circumstances leading to his excommunication from the Amsterdam Jewish community, and his subsequent life and writings with great insight, drama, and plausibility. Spinoza's thought is discussed both in the sections of the book set in the Netherlands and in the sections set in Nazi Germany. The exposition is simply presented for lay readers, with the explosive nature of his thinking retained. Yalom draws much of the discussion verbatim from Spinoza's two great books, the "Theological Political Treatise" and the "Ethics"; for the most part, the lengthy philosophical discussions are integrated well with the flow of the novel.
Yalom also offers a philosophical critique of Spinoza which, he recognizes is something of an anachronism. He draws on a study by the American philosopher Rebecca Goldstein, Betraying Spinoza: The Renegade Jew Who Gave Us Modernity (Jewish Encounters) to critique Spinoza's rationalism at the expense of the emotional life. More surprisingly, Yalom introduces a character who critiques Spinoza from the standpoint of a much latter-day secular Reconstructionist Judaism and who is particularly harsh on Spinoza's clearly 17th century attitude towards women.
Yalom mostly imagines novelistically Rosenberg's relationship to Spinoza. He shows the young Rosenberg about to be expelled from his preparatory school for making antisemitic comments in a class election. He is required to read Goethe's autobiography and write out the many laudatory references Goethe makes about Spinoza. Later in the book Rosenberg undergoes therapy with an old family friend (a fictitious character in his entirety) who probes into his depression, isolation, attitude towards Hitler, and increasingly strident antisemitism.
Spinoza becomes a figure to be used in understanding oneself and one's emotions, which Rosenberg is singularly unable to do. In addition, Spinoza with his critique of revealed religion becomes a figure with some resemblances to Rosenberg's own dislike of religion, both Judaism and Christianity. The therapist tries without success to use Spinoza to ease his subject's hatred of Jews. Hence the "Spinoza Problem" becomes the title of the book and of Rosenberg's activities in the Nazi Regime.
Yalom has written a novel of ideas which works effectively as a novel. It is an excellent critical introduction to a great philosopher and to the sometimes difficult claims of the mind and the heart.
Robin Friedman
The reference to Berthold Auerbach is taken from a recent study examining how Jewish sources treat Spinoza by Daniel Schwartz, "The First Modern Jew: Spinoza and the History of an Image."
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Ralph Blumenau
4.0 out of 5 stars This historical novel takes too many liberties with hitorical facts.Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 29 December 2020
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In the Prologue of his novel, Yalom tells us that, while the events in Spinoza’ life are well known (though I have learnt from the book details about it that I had not known), virtually nothing is known of his inner and emotional life. As a psychotherapist, Yalom set himself the task of imagining what this inner life may have been. That is one aspect of his Spinoza problem. The other aspect of it lies in his discovery that the Nazi ideologue Alfred Rosenberg had, during the German occupation of Holland, confiscated, but not destroyed, Spinoza’s library, and it survived the war almost intact. It had been spared because, Rosenberg, too, apparently had a Spinoza problem to which he tried to find a solution. To explore these two problems, Yalom has written this novel. The short chapters alternate between the two.
I have no problem with his chapters on Spinoza. They give a clear, if a somewhat repetitive account of his career, of his biblical criticism, and of his attacks on the superstitions and practices of Judaism, and of his own philosophical and religious ideas. I find Yalom’s imagined account of Spinoza’s inner life and inner conflicts credible. I am not unduly disturbed by the fact that he has created fictitious person, Franco Benitez, who agrees with Spinoza’s biblical criticisms and with his views on superstitious ritual, but who is nevertheless a rabbi, and who, in the dialogues between them, maintained that man cannot live by reason alone, and that there is a value in the Jewish religious traditions which he could follow even while accepting Spinoza’s criticisms of them. Franco is a relatively minor figure and does not distort the story of Spinoza.
I have many more problems with Yalom’s chapters on Rosenberg. We do get a factual account of his career in the Nazi Party, but he tells us that the account of his time as a sixteen-year old schoolboy is fictional. The boy was already a racist antisemite. He admired Goethe, and then found out that Goethe was the “most decided worshipper” of the Jew Spinoza. How could that be? This becomes a life-long problem for Rosenberg – yet there is only one single and unilluminating mention in the historical record linking Rosenberg with “the Spinoza problem”.
More seriously Yalom introduces a fictional psychoanalyst, Friedrich Pfister, who plays a far more crucial role in Rosenberg’s life than Franco does in Spinoza’s. Rosenberg was drawn to Pfister although he regarded psychoanalysis as tainted by its Jewish founder and Jewish followers, and his relationship with Pfister broke down twice (in 1918 and in 1922) times before being resumed in 1936.
Rosenberg had suffered all his life from being unpopular and a loner, and even though he was fanatically devoted to Hitler and Hitler had rewarded his loyalty by promoting him to influential positions in the Nazi party, he suffered dreadfully from the fact that Hitler never acknowledged that Rosenberg was the source of many of his ideas and actions (including, according to Yalom, the Munich Putsch of 1923); did not appreciate Rosenberg’s 1930 magnum opus, “The Myth of the 20th century”; never brought him into his inner circle; often belittled him, and kept a cold distance from him. In 1936 Rosenberg suffered from a nervous breakdown, was admitted to a clinic for top Nazis, and turned to Pfister again. Pfister hoped to liberate him from his dependence on Hitler’s esteem by showing him how reading Spinoza had calmed Goethe’s restlessness. Again they were getting nowhere - when Hitler turned up at the clinic, and, in an affable mood, told Rosenberg that he had nominated him to be the first recipient of the new National German Prize, the German equivalent to the Nobel Prize. Rosenberg’s depression lifted immediately, and he curtly dismissed Pfitzner for the last time.
In 1940 Rosenberg was put in charge of seizing Jewish art and books in occupied Europe, and so he came to confiscate the Spinoza Library in Rijnsburg. As none of the books were in German or in Russian, he could not read any of them.
When Germany collapsed in 1945, he was arrested, tried at Nuremberg and was executed as a war criminal. as a war criminal, and condemned to death.
Both the Spinoza and the Rosenberg chapters make excellent reading, but, as a historian, I am too troubled by the unhistoricity of the Rosenberg chapters to give the book five stars.
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A_Lien
5.0 out of 5 stars An extraordinaire book, I absolutely loved it!Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 6 May 2018
Verified Purchase
How often can a novel inspire you to return to the very dense work of one of the most elusive, difficult and fascinating philosophers that ever lived?
I found the book unputdownable. How Yalom managed to bring to life Spinoza's mind from the very little that we know about this reclusive philosopher is nothing short of miraculous. I found the Rosenberg chapters less interesting, but then Rosenberg was a despicable, hateful, small minded human being, so it's much more difficult to relate to him than to the large souled Spinoza.
The book works like a study into good and evil. I'll probably read it again, but this time I'll skip the Rosenberg chapters and enjoy the insights into Spinoza's mind. Of course, it is a novel and no one can really know what Spinoza was thinking or feeling, and that is how he would have loved it to be. But it feels like it could have been very much like it happens in this book.
I'm very curious regarding other books by Irvin Yalom, I anticipate a new author to love. But first I'm going back to Spinoza, to the Tractatus and to The Ethics. Thank you Mr Yalom!
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Lady Fancifull
4.0 out of 5 stars
Yalom has written a novel of ideas which works effectively as a novel. It is an excellent critical introduction to a great philosopher and to the sometimes difficult claims of the mind and the heart.
Robin Friedman
The reference to Berthold Auerbach is taken from a recent study examining how Jewish sources treat Spinoza by Daniel Schwartz, "The First Modern Jew: Spinoza and the History of an Image."
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Ralph Blumenau
4.0 out of 5 stars This historical novel takes too many liberties with hitorical facts.Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 29 December 2020
Verified Purchase
In the Prologue of his novel, Yalom tells us that, while the events in Spinoza’ life are well known (though I have learnt from the book details about it that I had not known), virtually nothing is known of his inner and emotional life. As a psychotherapist, Yalom set himself the task of imagining what this inner life may have been. That is one aspect of his Spinoza problem. The other aspect of it lies in his discovery that the Nazi ideologue Alfred Rosenberg had, during the German occupation of Holland, confiscated, but not destroyed, Spinoza’s library, and it survived the war almost intact. It had been spared because, Rosenberg, too, apparently had a Spinoza problem to which he tried to find a solution. To explore these two problems, Yalom has written this novel. The short chapters alternate between the two.
I have no problem with his chapters on Spinoza. They give a clear, if a somewhat repetitive account of his career, of his biblical criticism, and of his attacks on the superstitions and practices of Judaism, and of his own philosophical and religious ideas. I find Yalom’s imagined account of Spinoza’s inner life and inner conflicts credible. I am not unduly disturbed by the fact that he has created fictitious person, Franco Benitez, who agrees with Spinoza’s biblical criticisms and with his views on superstitious ritual, but who is nevertheless a rabbi, and who, in the dialogues between them, maintained that man cannot live by reason alone, and that there is a value in the Jewish religious traditions which he could follow even while accepting Spinoza’s criticisms of them. Franco is a relatively minor figure and does not distort the story of Spinoza.
I have many more problems with Yalom’s chapters on Rosenberg. We do get a factual account of his career in the Nazi Party, but he tells us that the account of his time as a sixteen-year old schoolboy is fictional. The boy was already a racist antisemite. He admired Goethe, and then found out that Goethe was the “most decided worshipper” of the Jew Spinoza. How could that be? This becomes a life-long problem for Rosenberg – yet there is only one single and unilluminating mention in the historical record linking Rosenberg with “the Spinoza problem”.
More seriously Yalom introduces a fictional psychoanalyst, Friedrich Pfister, who plays a far more crucial role in Rosenberg’s life than Franco does in Spinoza’s. Rosenberg was drawn to Pfister although he regarded psychoanalysis as tainted by its Jewish founder and Jewish followers, and his relationship with Pfister broke down twice (in 1918 and in 1922) times before being resumed in 1936.
Rosenberg had suffered all his life from being unpopular and a loner, and even though he was fanatically devoted to Hitler and Hitler had rewarded his loyalty by promoting him to influential positions in the Nazi party, he suffered dreadfully from the fact that Hitler never acknowledged that Rosenberg was the source of many of his ideas and actions (including, according to Yalom, the Munich Putsch of 1923); did not appreciate Rosenberg’s 1930 magnum opus, “The Myth of the 20th century”; never brought him into his inner circle; often belittled him, and kept a cold distance from him. In 1936 Rosenberg suffered from a nervous breakdown, was admitted to a clinic for top Nazis, and turned to Pfister again. Pfister hoped to liberate him from his dependence on Hitler’s esteem by showing him how reading Spinoza had calmed Goethe’s restlessness. Again they were getting nowhere - when Hitler turned up at the clinic, and, in an affable mood, told Rosenberg that he had nominated him to be the first recipient of the new National German Prize, the German equivalent to the Nobel Prize. Rosenberg’s depression lifted immediately, and he curtly dismissed Pfitzner for the last time.
In 1940 Rosenberg was put in charge of seizing Jewish art and books in occupied Europe, and so he came to confiscate the Spinoza Library in Rijnsburg. As none of the books were in German or in Russian, he could not read any of them.
When Germany collapsed in 1945, he was arrested, tried at Nuremberg and was executed as a war criminal. as a war criminal, and condemned to death.
Both the Spinoza and the Rosenberg chapters make excellent reading, but, as a historian, I am too troubled by the unhistoricity of the Rosenberg chapters to give the book five stars.
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A_Lien
5.0 out of 5 stars An extraordinaire book, I absolutely loved it!Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 6 May 2018
Verified Purchase
How often can a novel inspire you to return to the very dense work of one of the most elusive, difficult and fascinating philosophers that ever lived?
I found the book unputdownable. How Yalom managed to bring to life Spinoza's mind from the very little that we know about this reclusive philosopher is nothing short of miraculous. I found the Rosenberg chapters less interesting, but then Rosenberg was a despicable, hateful, small minded human being, so it's much more difficult to relate to him than to the large souled Spinoza.
The book works like a study into good and evil. I'll probably read it again, but this time I'll skip the Rosenberg chapters and enjoy the insights into Spinoza's mind. Of course, it is a novel and no one can really know what Spinoza was thinking or feeling, and that is how he would have loved it to be. But it feels like it could have been very much like it happens in this book.
I'm very curious regarding other books by Irvin Yalom, I anticipate a new author to love. But first I'm going back to Spinoza, to the Tractatus and to The Ethics. Thank you Mr Yalom!
Read less
6 people found this helpfulReport abuse
Lady Fancifull
4.0 out of 5 stars
Novel ‘form’ used to explore ideas and the personalities which subscribe to them
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 27 January 2017
Verified Purchase
Reviewing The Spinoza Problem is more than a little challenging, it is not quite successful as a novel, but is a far better way of educating the reader into grasping facets of Spinoza’s philosophy than any of the ‘Dummies’ type guides might be, because the information is woven in a more dramatic, narrative, human way
Irvin Yalom is a much revered humanistic psychotherapist. He is also a marvellous writer/communicator about these matters, and his non-fiction writings are rich, meaningful and informative, to practitioners and to those interested in our very human nature, and all the ethical and philosophical ideas which might arise from consciousness, and self-consciousness. He has written other novels, using a semi fictional framework to explore ideas.
In ‘The Spinoza Problem’ there are two parallel journeys happening, separated by nearly 300 years, and both stories, of real people with a strange, cross-time connection, are explored using a similar device, that of presenting the central character in each time, with a kind of analyst figure, a wise, self-reflective listener who can be trusted to explore how who we are and our formative experiences, often determines how we think
Baruch, later Bento Spinoza was a Portuguese Jew of extraordinary intellect and a rigorously independent, questioning nature. The Netherlands, where he lived and died was, in the 1660’s, a markedly tolerant society, where religious freedom, and different religions, were able to live side by side. Great things were expected of Spinoza within his community, where his understanding of religious texts and analytical mind seemed to indicate he would become a highly influential rabbi. This was not to be, however, as he began to question religion itself, and dismissed the forms as created by man, not God. Extraordinary thinking in those times, and brave to voice those thoughts : religious intolerance and fundamental beliefs were rather more the bedrock of the times, and dissent, in some cases, led to death. He had an extraordinary certainty in his own belief system, but also a tolerance towards others of different beliefs. He was, however, uncompromising in his insistence that he could not live untruthful to those beliefs. The result was that he was cursed, excommunicated by his community, for the rest of his life. This was a man who hugely valued his community, but valued adherence to his own understanding of ‘truth’ Where I found his uncompromising adherence to that to be even more laudable, is that he did not feel the need to force others into his thinking. A rather unusual combination of uncompromising adherence and toleration. Often, those who hold most fiercely to their own ‘right’ seek to deny others theirs – where we are talking the systems of beliefs
The shadow side of belief lies in the second figure, the one who searches for the solution to ‘The Spinoza Problem’ : Nazi Alfred Rosenberg, who was chief ‘theorist’ of the Party. Rosenberg, committed Anti-Semite, had a major problem with Spinoza – that he was a Jew, and was admired, hugely by the ‘good German’ Goethe, whom Rosenberg venerated. Here is a clear mark between mature and immature thinking, feeling, being – the inability to hold any kind of nuance or conflict between ‘this’ and ‘that’
Where the book particularly fascinated me is through Yalom’s own background as a psychotherapist, and one with a view which is both ‘narrow focus’ – this person, this story of theirs, and ‘broad focus’ – the overview, the wider issues. So, our own beliefs, which we generally believe are rationally driven, whilst the beliefs of others, with different opinions, we are more likely to believe spring from ‘personality and individual psychology’ that fact, are always driven more by ‘who we are’ than by rationality.
Yalom teases out, in the ‘invented’ encounters, giving Spinoza and Rosenberg people whom they can trust to have meaningful dialogue with, of the kind that happens in the best-run psychotherapeutic encounters, known history and personality traits. Obviously, more is known of the man Rosenberg through his writings, sayings, deeds as his is a more recent history – Rosenberg was one of those brought to trial, at Nuremberg, and executed as for his war crimes, and his crimes against humanity. Yalom traces this aberrant personality and psychology, which the wider events of the times fitted so horribly well – when external political/economic systems hurt ‘the common man’ the easiest, and most terrible solution is to make some massed ‘other’ the cause.
This is what we are of course seeing, nascent, in the rise of what is being improperly named – ‘the alt right’ Let us name it – certainly there is proto Fascism as a driver : leaders are using the terrible, dangerous language, and the terrible, dangerous, ‘feeling thought’ is gaining credence.
To return (and how we need to) to Spinoza. There is a wealth of quite complex writing – which Yalom has clearly studied at depth – which can be used, with historical background about his life, and what has been said about him by others, whether at the time, or later students/researchers into his life an writing – to create an idea of who this man might have been. Certainly there is an enormous intellectual and emotional intelligence at work here, a visionary, positively inspirational individual. He may not have been an easy man to be around in some ways – those who are ‘greater’ in a kind of moral, ethical way than most of us, those who serve as ‘inspirers’ to our feebler selves to orientate towards, can easily inspire our fear and our dislike – through no fault of their own, but because they make us uncomfortable and uneasy with our own shortcomings. ‘Dead heroes’ of history may be easier to read about and be with, than the person better, more humane, more morally fine, who lives next door!
So, not quite fully satisfying as ‘novel’ Yalom, as ever, invites the reader to engage with themselves, and with ethical ideas, educating without standing dryly outside what is being explained
Read less
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Dr. Pip
5.0 out of 5 stars Humanistic Philosophy made easy
Verified Purchase
Reviewing The Spinoza Problem is more than a little challenging, it is not quite successful as a novel, but is a far better way of educating the reader into grasping facets of Spinoza’s philosophy than any of the ‘Dummies’ type guides might be, because the information is woven in a more dramatic, narrative, human way
Irvin Yalom is a much revered humanistic psychotherapist. He is also a marvellous writer/communicator about these matters, and his non-fiction writings are rich, meaningful and informative, to practitioners and to those interested in our very human nature, and all the ethical and philosophical ideas which might arise from consciousness, and self-consciousness. He has written other novels, using a semi fictional framework to explore ideas.
In ‘The Spinoza Problem’ there are two parallel journeys happening, separated by nearly 300 years, and both stories, of real people with a strange, cross-time connection, are explored using a similar device, that of presenting the central character in each time, with a kind of analyst figure, a wise, self-reflective listener who can be trusted to explore how who we are and our formative experiences, often determines how we think
Baruch, later Bento Spinoza was a Portuguese Jew of extraordinary intellect and a rigorously independent, questioning nature. The Netherlands, where he lived and died was, in the 1660’s, a markedly tolerant society, where religious freedom, and different religions, were able to live side by side. Great things were expected of Spinoza within his community, where his understanding of religious texts and analytical mind seemed to indicate he would become a highly influential rabbi. This was not to be, however, as he began to question religion itself, and dismissed the forms as created by man, not God. Extraordinary thinking in those times, and brave to voice those thoughts : religious intolerance and fundamental beliefs were rather more the bedrock of the times, and dissent, in some cases, led to death. He had an extraordinary certainty in his own belief system, but also a tolerance towards others of different beliefs. He was, however, uncompromising in his insistence that he could not live untruthful to those beliefs. The result was that he was cursed, excommunicated by his community, for the rest of his life. This was a man who hugely valued his community, but valued adherence to his own understanding of ‘truth’ Where I found his uncompromising adherence to that to be even more laudable, is that he did not feel the need to force others into his thinking. A rather unusual combination of uncompromising adherence and toleration. Often, those who hold most fiercely to their own ‘right’ seek to deny others theirs – where we are talking the systems of beliefs
The shadow side of belief lies in the second figure, the one who searches for the solution to ‘The Spinoza Problem’ : Nazi Alfred Rosenberg, who was chief ‘theorist’ of the Party. Rosenberg, committed Anti-Semite, had a major problem with Spinoza – that he was a Jew, and was admired, hugely by the ‘good German’ Goethe, whom Rosenberg venerated. Here is a clear mark between mature and immature thinking, feeling, being – the inability to hold any kind of nuance or conflict between ‘this’ and ‘that’
Where the book particularly fascinated me is through Yalom’s own background as a psychotherapist, and one with a view which is both ‘narrow focus’ – this person, this story of theirs, and ‘broad focus’ – the overview, the wider issues. So, our own beliefs, which we generally believe are rationally driven, whilst the beliefs of others, with different opinions, we are more likely to believe spring from ‘personality and individual psychology’ that fact, are always driven more by ‘who we are’ than by rationality.
Yalom teases out, in the ‘invented’ encounters, giving Spinoza and Rosenberg people whom they can trust to have meaningful dialogue with, of the kind that happens in the best-run psychotherapeutic encounters, known history and personality traits. Obviously, more is known of the man Rosenberg through his writings, sayings, deeds as his is a more recent history – Rosenberg was one of those brought to trial, at Nuremberg, and executed as for his war crimes, and his crimes against humanity. Yalom traces this aberrant personality and psychology, which the wider events of the times fitted so horribly well – when external political/economic systems hurt ‘the common man’ the easiest, and most terrible solution is to make some massed ‘other’ the cause.
This is what we are of course seeing, nascent, in the rise of what is being improperly named – ‘the alt right’ Let us name it – certainly there is proto Fascism as a driver : leaders are using the terrible, dangerous language, and the terrible, dangerous, ‘feeling thought’ is gaining credence.
To return (and how we need to) to Spinoza. There is a wealth of quite complex writing – which Yalom has clearly studied at depth – which can be used, with historical background about his life, and what has been said about him by others, whether at the time, or later students/researchers into his life an writing – to create an idea of who this man might have been. Certainly there is an enormous intellectual and emotional intelligence at work here, a visionary, positively inspirational individual. He may not have been an easy man to be around in some ways – those who are ‘greater’ in a kind of moral, ethical way than most of us, those who serve as ‘inspirers’ to our feebler selves to orientate towards, can easily inspire our fear and our dislike – through no fault of their own, but because they make us uncomfortable and uneasy with our own shortcomings. ‘Dead heroes’ of history may be easier to read about and be with, than the person better, more humane, more morally fine, who lives next door!
So, not quite fully satisfying as ‘novel’ Yalom, as ever, invites the reader to engage with themselves, and with ethical ideas, educating without standing dryly outside what is being explained
Read less
3 people found this helpfulReport abuse
Dr. Pip
5.0 out of 5 stars Humanistic Philosophy made easy
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 15 August 2017
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I have read this book before so my repeat purchase and rereading says something about it. Yalom I believe wrote his 3 novels, this, The Schopenhauer Cure and When Nietzche Wept as teaching material for his students to discover the philosophical underpinning for what became Freud's gift to the 20th century. Much of this philosophical material is second nature to central European university entrants but missing from the curriculum of English speaking countries. This book is an enjoyable way to begin to discover what we have missed, this one beginning with the dawn of the Enlightenment.
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Michael Reilly
5.0 out of 5 stars Rattling good read
Verified Purchase
I have read this book before so my repeat purchase and rereading says something about it. Yalom I believe wrote his 3 novels, this, The Schopenhauer Cure and When Nietzche Wept as teaching material for his students to discover the philosophical underpinning for what became Freud's gift to the 20th century. Much of this philosophical material is second nature to central European university entrants but missing from the curriculum of English speaking countries. This book is an enjoyable way to begin to discover what we have missed, this one beginning with the dawn of the Enlightenment.
4 people found this helpfulReport abuse
Michael Reilly
5.0 out of 5 stars Rattling good read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 11 August 2021
Verified Purchase
A readable romp on philosophy for the idle, me. I didn't know that. As said, "history is fiction that happened, fiction is history that might have happened." All the Spinosa ideas and Nazi bluff down to Nuremberg clothed in a believable and readable story. Couldn't put it down. Thanks to my philosopher friend, Bambos Voutourides for recommending it to me. And I've not been able to finish any book for so long. Glad it was short.
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A readable romp on philosophy for the idle, me. I didn't know that. As said, "history is fiction that happened, fiction is history that might have happened." All the Spinosa ideas and Nazi bluff down to Nuremberg clothed in a believable and readable story. Couldn't put it down. Thanks to my philosopher friend, Bambos Voutourides for recommending it to me. And I've not been able to finish any book for so long. Glad it was short.
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The Spinoza Problem: a novel Paperback – 21 March 2012
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In 1909, sixteen-year-old Alfred Rosenburg is called into his headmaster's office for making anti-Semitic remarks. He is punished by having to memorise passages from the autobiography of Goethe - and is stunned to discover that his idol was a great admirer of the seventeenth-century philosopher Baruch Spinoza.
Spinoza himself was no stranger to punishment- accused of heresy, he was excommunicated from the Jewish community and banished from the only world he had ever known. Nevertheless, he became one of the most influential philosophers of his age.
Long after graduation, Rosenberg is possessed by the 'Spinoza problem'- how could Goethe, the great German poet, have been inspired by a member of a race that Rosenburg considers inferior to his own? A race, that as he develops from anti-Semitic schoolboy to Nazi propagandist, he becomes determined to destroy?
In this brilliant re-creation of the inner worlds of two men separated by 300 years - one dedicated to fashioning a moral philosophy, the other obsessed with the superiority of the Aryan race - internationally bestselling novelist Irvin D. Yalom explores the thin psychological line that separates genius and evil, and the lives of two men who changed the course of history.
'Spinoza had no 'real life' outside his reading and writing- he lived in his brilliant mind. So how do you write about a philosopher - a writer beloved of Goethe, Schopenhauer, and so many other thinkers - who spent most of his time in thought? And how do you regard Spinoza - a Jew whose work helped to usher in the Enlightenment - if, indeed, you're a Nazi? Irvin Yalom is just the writer to take on such a problem, and he solves it, with his own novelistic brilliance, in this vibrant book. In my view, Yalom is one of the most eclectic, wide-ranging, and dazzling writers of our time.'
-Jay Parini, author of The Last Station and The Passages of H.M.
'Irvin Yalom is the most significant writer of psychological fiction in the world today. I didn't think he could top When Nietzsche Wept or The Schopenhauer Cure, but he has. The Spinoza Problem is a masterpiece.'
-Martin E. P. Seligman, author of Flourish
'Irvin Yalom's The Spinoza Problem is an amazing novel that combines fact and fiction in a spellbinding manner. Little is known about the psyche of either Baruch Spinoza or Alfred Rosenberg, yet using his extraordinary ability to peer into the minds of his patients, Dr. Yalom has produced a rare gem in existing literature. Only an incomparably gifted author could write such a fascinating and thought-provoking novel. A real page-turner.'
-Dr Dilip V. Jeste, distinguished professor of psychiatry & neurosciences at University of California, San Diego
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정신과 의사 어빈 D. 얄롬 소설. 어빈 D. 얄롬은 스피노자의 삶과 그의 철학을 이 세상의 종말을 방불케 하는 나치 독일의 역사와 알프레드 로젠버그라는 인물을 연결해서 현실화시켰다.
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제1장 암스테르담－1656년 4월
제2장 리발, 에스토니아－1910년 5월 3일
제3장 암스테르담－1656년
제4장 에스토니아－1910년 5월 10일
제5장 암스테르담－1656년
제6장 에스토니아－1910년
제7장 암스테르담－1656년
제8장 리발, 에스토니아－1917년~1918년
제9장 암스테르담－1656년
제10장 리발, 에스토니아－1918년 11월
제11장 암스테르담－1656년
제12장 에스토니아－1918년
제13장 암스테르담－1656년
제14장 뮌헨－1918년~1919년
제15장 암스테르담－1656년 7월
제16장 뮌헨－1919년
제17장 암스테르담－1656년
제18장 뮌헨－1919년
제19장 암스테르담－1656년 7월 27일
제20장 뮌헨－1922년 3월
제21장 암스테르담－1656년 7월 27일
제22장 베를린－1922년
제23장 암스테르담－1656년 7월 27일
제24장 베를린－1922년
제25장 암스테르담－1658년
제26장 베를린－1923년 3월 26일
제27장 리진스버그－1662년
제28장 프리드리히의 사무실, 올리바에르플라즈 3, 베를린－1925년
제29장 리진스버그와 암스테르담－1662년
제30장 베를린－1936년
제31장 브루버그－1666년 12월
제32장 베를린, 네덜란드－1939년~1945년
제33장 브루버그－1666년 12월
에필로그
사실인가 또는 허구인가? 정확한 기록을 위하여
옮기고 나서
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추천글
이것은 내가 몇 년 동안 읽었던 소설 중에서 나를 가장 매혹시킨 소설이다. 어빈 얄롬은 엄격한, 그러면서도 상당히 견문을 넓혀주는 기막히게 재미있는 책을 썼다. 나는 열정적으로 이 책을 추천한다. - 안소니 홉킨스
어빈 얄롬은 현재 우리 시대에서 심리적인 소설을 쓰는 가장 유명한 작가이다. 나는 그가 『니체가 눈물을 흘릴 때』 또는 『쇼펜하우어, 집단심리치료』를 능가하는 소설을 쓸 수 있을 것이라고 생각하지 않았다. 하지만 그는 해냈다. 이 책은 걸작이다. - 마틴 셀리그먼 (펜실베니아대학교 교수, 《긍정 심리학》의 저자)
어빈 얄롬은 스피노자의 삶과 그의 철학을 이 세상의 종말을 방불케 하는 나치 독일의 역사와 알프레드 로젠버그라는 인물을 연결해서 현실화시키는 위대한 작업을 성취했다. 이것은 얄롬이 훌륭하게 수행하는 시간의 연금술이며 과학과 소설의 연금술이라고 생각한다. 이 책은 몰입하게 하고, 계몽시키고, 교란시키기도 하지만 궁극적으로는 큰 만족감을 느끼게 하는 소설이다. - 에이브러햄 버기즈 (의학 박사, 『눈물의 아이들』 저자)
저자 및 역자소개
어빈 D. 얄롬 (Irvin D. Yalom) (지은이)
스탠퍼드대학교 정신과 명예교수인 어빈 D. 얄롬은 국제적인 베스트셀러로 알려진 『나는 사랑의 처형자가 되기 싫다』, 『치료의 선물』, 『비커밍 마이셀프』, 그리고 『니체가 눈물을 흘릴 때』 등의 저자이다.
최근작 : <죽음과 삶>,<입원환자의 집단 정신치료>,<삶과 죽음 사이에 서서> … 총 174종 (모두보기)
이혜성 (옮긴이)
저자파일
신간알리미 신청
한국상담대학원대학교 총장
이화여자대학교 명예교수
서울대학교 사범대학 졸업
미국 버지니아대학교 교육학 박사(상담자교육 전공)
서울여자대학교, 이화여자대학교 교수 역임
한국청소년상담원 원장 역임
저서
여성상담
삶·사람·상담
문학상담
사랑하자 그러므로 사랑하자
아름다움은 영원한 기쁨이어라
내 삶의 네 기둥
역서
쇼펜하우어, 집단심리치료
폴라와의 여행: 삶과 죽음, 그 실존적 고뇌에 관한
심리치료 이야기
카우치에 누워서
보다 냉정하게 보다 용기있게
어빈 D. 얄롬의 심리치료와 인간의 조건
매일... 더보기
최근작 : <문학상담> … 총 15종 (모두보기)
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구매자 (2)
전체 (2)
공감순
일종의 팩션이다. 개연성이 없지 않을만큼 실제 있었던 일들을 잘 연결하고 있다. 정신과전문의인 작가의 지식을 적절히 활용하여 스피노자의 철학과 나찌의 로젠버그를 잘 분석하고 있다. 얄롬의, 스피노자에 대한 존경심이 잘 드러난 재미 있는 소설이다. 구매
게라심 2018-04-11 공감 (2) 댓글 (0)
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공감
처음엔 번역 문제라 생각했던 문장들이 작가의 문제가 아닌가 여겨진다. 맥이 뚝뚝 끊기고 고루하게 만드는 문장들이 즐비해 있다. 개인적으로 이 책에서 잘 쓰인 부분은 ‘인간적‘ 스피노자를 그린 부분이고 별로인 부분은 프리드리히와 로젠버그의 대화부분이다. 자라지 않는 로젠버그.. 사상만 나불 구매
