Some biographies generate in us moderns an effect similar to the one we experience when, after getting bored with some trifle or complaining about life, we meet a homeless person. Because, in fact, some of the most famous names in universal literature have been beggars themselves—famous, by the way, not because of their material condition, but because of the greatness of their works. And then we discover how incapable we have become of enduring misery, since little things bother us a lot, and a fraction of the adversity endured by so many of our ancestors would be enough to wipe us out. At least the embarrassing is useful.
Despite the Great Risk of Degeneration…
Despite the great risk of degeneration inherent in human relationships, it must be a great satisfaction to take part in an environment of cultural exchange, such as those that have taken place and those that exist in different countries, where a small group of intellectuals with a genuine common interest talk, teach, learn, help each other and develop. What seems most beneficial, and it does not always happen, is contact between different generations, which enables the personal transmission of a legacy, which should be equally satisfying for those who pass it on and those who receive it. In fact, this is what universities could do if they did not get involved in so many formalities. The value of physical presence—absent in books—cannot be underestimated, and so culture owes a lot to these small informal associations.
There Is No Denying That, Despite Everything…
There is no denying that, despite everything that can be said about the conclusions drawn by Hegel, his understanding of the component and guiding processes of reality, in other words his dialectic, is one of impressive lucidity and acuity. Because wherever we turn our eyes, an in-depth examination will show that an effective historical action will necessarily give rise to its antithesis and have a result that is different from its intention. This dynamic, which is sometimes very difficult to understand, remarkably equates the fatal presence of the unpredictable, and forces us to always keep it in mind in any process. Getting used to the ambiguous and the complex is, in short, getting closer to reality.
In the Middle of the Last Century…
In the middle of the last century, not a few authors reminisced nostalgically about the belle époque, lamenting a general deterioration that ranged from art to everyday life, from opportunities to customs, from quality of life to personal relationships. In most cases, the lament came from authors who had lived through the period as children, and therefore added to the context the memory of their fondest childhood memories. The next generation, born in the post-war period, who grew up listening to their parents’ stories of memorable times gone by, are today the ones who nostalgically recount the customs that have been lost, the opportunities that abounded and the environment that is gone. Curiously, the generation that is coming of age today, if it does not yet regret the golden days of yore, can already safely assume that it will only be a few years before it begins to do so, in view of the current degradation, both visible and widespread. What to say?