While baking some Apfelstrudel (recipe from the café at the Belvedere in Vienna), and enjoying my last week off (funny how I am only able to enjoy my free time when I know it comes to an end), I have continued to read a biography of Hannah Arendt. For those of you who do not know her, she was one of the great intellectuals from the 20th century, a Jewish German who fled to the US from the nazis, and wrote seminal works on totalitarianism and "the human condition".
A few reflections on Arendt's life:
On gender: The anecdote I mentioned in one of my last posts: Arendt did not want to accept certain invitations to speak publicly or receive prizes if she was the first woman to do so - she did not want to be merited as the "woman recipient", but as the "recipient". I, on the other hand, would be proud of the fact that I would be the first "woman" to break through a glass ceiling (not that I think I will, though) - I would see it as a kind of double honor (i.e. personal and as a role model / precedent).
On work: Arendt did not want to accept "permanent positions" (e.g. as a university lecturer), because she felt drained and restricted in her ability to write and travel this way. She was fortunate to be successful enough to get invitations to do and to afford such a model of "project work". Her idea was that if work (whether manual or administrative) takes up all of your time, you do not have time to "really create". I second this idea.
On being politically active: One of the reasons that I wanted to read more about Arendt is her idea that it is insufficient just to analyze - one also has to try to shape the world. It's reminds me of a Gandhi quote: "You must be the change you wish to see in the world", although Arendt seems to focus more on relationships between people, and how these relationships make society more than just the sum of individuals. My hope is that I can start doing a bit of both: practicing what I think, and having things happen not just in my head (or on my blog!).
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