Intimate Strangers
Arendt, Marcuse, Solzhenitsyn, and Said in American Political Discourse
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- $31.99
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- $31.99
Publisher Description
Hannah Arendt, Herbert Marcuse, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, and Edward Said each steered major intellectual and political schools of thought in American political discourse after World War II, yet none of them was American, which proved crucial to their ways of arguing and reasoning both in and out of the American context. In an effort to convince their audiences they were American enough, these thinkers deployed deft rhetorical strategies that made their cosmopolitanism feel acceptable, inspiring radical new approaches to longstanding problems in American politics. Speaking like natives, they also exploited their foreignness to entice listeners to embrace alternative modes of thought.
Intimate Strangers unpacks this "stranger ethos," a blend of detachment and involvement that manifested in the persona of a prophet for Solzhenitsyn, an impartial observer for Arendt, a mentor for Marcuse, and a victim for Said. Yet despite its many successes, the stranger ethos did alienate many audiences, and critics continue to dismiss these thinkers not for their positions but because of their foreign point of view. This book encourages readers to reject this kind of critical xenophobia, throwing support behind a political discourse that accounts for the ideals of citizens and noncitizens alike.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Ritivoi (Paul Ricoeur) examines four migr s Hannah Arendt, Herbert Marcuse, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, and Edward Said who indelibly altered the United States's political landscape and developed the paradigm of the "stranger persona." Ritivoi claims that these thinkers' pointed critiques of U.S. politics and culture did not arise in spite of their outsider status, but because of it. Too often xenophobia caused these reproaches to fall on deaf ears. The majority of the book parses each thinker's intellectual and political contributions but falls short of establishing an overarching analysis or a robust theoretical framework. Similarly, the biographies themselves are of mixed quality. Ritivoi's commentary on Arendt is rote and superficial; likewise, her account of Marcuse repeatedly references the same trifling anecdote. However, her take on Solzhenitsyn, and the unique admiration and rejection his assertions inspired, as well as Said's political maturation are dynamic and compelling. Although flawed, Ritivoi's work launches worthy lines of inquiry concerning the reception of foreign analysis and what it reveals about the U.S.'s self-image. Despite its unevenness, the book is charming and accessible introduction to these thinkers' influence on American political discourse.
