Sublime

The living being becomes a commodity on the “personality market.” The

Wie ich im ersten Kapitel zeigen werde, ist Hoffnung die konstitutive Kategorie des modernen Individuums. Sie ist mit Enttäuschung, Neid, Zorn, Ressentiment, Furcht und Nostalgie vermischt, eine Kombination, die die besondere Beschaffenheit des modernen emotionalen Unbehagens ausmacht.

Mind Yourself

in early childhood, the daughter of some obscure deacon, who grew up in the rich house of her benefactress,

He must be impressed by my performance, because he tosses me a loaf of bread—a gesture, as it turns out, that will later save my life. As evening turns to night, I share the bread with Magda and our bunkmates. I am grateful to have bread. I am grateful to be alive. In my first weeks at Auschwitz I learn the rules

hair.” It’s the first time I see that we have a choice: to pay attention to what we’ve lost or to pay attention to what we still have.

Jeff,

One morning I heard someone, whom I knew to be brave and dignified, cry like a child because he finally had to go to the snowy marching grounds in his bare feet, as his shoes were too shrunken for him to wear. In those ghastly minutes, I found a little bit of comfort; a small piece of bread which I drew out of my pocket and munched with absorbed de

realized that day how much my two patients, who appeared so different, had in common—with each other and with all people everywhere. Both women were responding to a situation they couldn’t control in which their expectations had been upended.