{"title":"Robert Zaretsky","description":"\u003cp\u003eRobert Zaretsky's works delve into the intricate lives of historical figures and their philosophical legacies. Through detailed biographies such as \u003cem\u003eCatherine \u0026amp; Diderot\u003c\/em\u003e and explorations of profound thinkers like Simone Weil, readers are invited to reflect on the interplay between personal experience and intellectual development.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBalancing biography with philosophy, these books offer thoughtful insights into the human condition and the enduring questions of meaning and existence. Zaretsky’s writing is essential for those drawn to the rich intersections of history, psychology, and philosophy.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"the-subversive-simone-weil-by-robert-zaretsky-9780226549330","title":"The Subversive Simone Weil","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eKnown as the “patron saint of all outsiders,” Simone Weil (1909–43) was one of the twentieth century’s most remarkable thinkers, a philosopher who truly lived by her political and ethical ideals. In a short life framed by the two world wars, Weil taught philosophy to lycée students and organized union workers, fought alongside anarchists during the Spanish Civil War and laboured alongside workers on assembly lines, joined the Free French movement in London, and died in despair because she was not sent to France to help the Resistance.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThough Weil published little during her life, after her death, thanks largely to the efforts of Albert Camus, hundreds of pages of her manuscripts were published to critical and popular acclaim. While many seekers have been attracted to Weil’s religious thought, Robert Zaretsky gives us a different Weil, exploring her insights into politics and ethics, and showing us a new side of Weil that balances her contradictions—the rigorous rationalist who also had her own brand of Catholic mysticism; the revolutionary with a soft spot for anarchism yet who believed in the hierarchy of labour; and the humanitarian who emphasised human needs and obligations over human rights.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eReflecting on the relationship between thought and action in Weil’s life, \u003ci\u003eThe Subversive Simone Weil\u003c\/i\u003e honours the complexity of Weil’s thought and speaks to why it matters and continues to fascinate readers today.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46855894925548,"sku":"9780226549330","price":43.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/17721583482268.jpg?v=1759282102"},{"product_id":"catherine-diderot-by-robert-zaretsky-9780674737907","title":"Catherine \u0026 Diderot","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA dual biography crafted around the famous encounter between the French philosopher who wrote about power and the Russian empress who wielded it with great aplomb.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn October 1773, after a gruelling trek from Paris, the aged and ailing Denis Diderot stumbled from a carriage in wintery St. Petersburg. The century's most subversive thinker, Diderot arrived as the guest of its most ambitious and admired ruler, Empress Catherine of Russia. What followed was unprecedented: more than forty private meetings, stretching over nearly four months, between these two extraordinary figures.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDiderot had come from Paris in order to guide—or so he thought—the woman who had become the continent's last great hope for an enlightened ruler. But as it soon became clear, Catherine had a very different understanding not just of her role but of his as well. Philosophers, she claimed, had the luxury of writing on unfeeling paper. Rulers had the task of writing on human skin, sensitive to the slightest touch.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDiderot and Catherine's series of meetings, held in her private chambers at the Hermitage, captured the imagination of their contemporaries. While heads of state like Frederick of Prussia feared the consequences of these conversations, intellectuals like Voltaire hoped they would further the goals of the Enlightenment.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn \u003cem\u003eCatherine \u0026amp; Diderot\u003c\/em\u003e, Robert Zaretsky traces the lives of these two remarkable figures, inviting us to reflect on the fraught relationship between politics and philosophy, and between a man of thought and a woman of action.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47000563450092,"sku":"9780674737907","price":56.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/5880953482428.jpg?v=1763285276"},{"product_id":"the-subversive-simone-weil-by-robert-zaretsky-9780226826608","title":"The Subversive Simone Weil","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eKnown as the “patron saint of all outsiders,” Simone Weil (1909–43) was one of the twentieth century’s most remarkable thinkers, a philosopher who truly lived by her political and ethical ideals. In a short life framed by the two world wars, Weil taught philosophy to lycée students and organized union workers, fought alongside anarchists during the Spanish Civil War and laboured alongside workers on assembly lines, joined the Free French movement in London and died in despair because she was not sent to France to help the Resistance.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThough Weil published little during her life, after her death, thanks largely to the efforts of Albert Camus, hundreds of pages of her manuscripts were published to critical and popular acclaim. While many seekers have been attracted to Weil’s religious thought, Robert Zaretsky gives us a different Weil, exploring her insights into politics and ethics, and showing us a new side of Weil that balances her contradictions — the rigorous rationalist who also had her own brand of Catholic mysticism; the revolutionary with a soft spot for anarchism yet who believed in the hierarchy of labour; and the humanitarian who emphasised human needs and obligations over human rights.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eReflecting on the relationship between thought and action in Weil’s life, \u003ci\u003eThe Subversive Simone Weil\u003c\/i\u003e honours the complexity of Weil’s thought and speaks to why it matters and continues to fascinate readers today.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47471831154924,"sku":"9780226826608","price":28.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/a671d339c22f6cd488fb7aa5133d987f.jpg?v=1775694024"},{"product_id":"a-life-worth-living-by-robert-zaretsky-9780674970861","title":"A Life Worth Living","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, Albert Camus declared that a writer's duty is twofold: \"the refusal to lie about what one knows and the resistance against oppression.\" These twin obsessions help explain something of Camus' remarkable character, which is the overarching subject of this sympathetic and lively book. Through an exploration of themes that preoccupied Camus—absurdity, silence, revolt, fidelity, and moderation—Robert Zaretsky portrays a moralist who refused to be fooled by the nobler names we assign to our actions, and who pushed himself, and those about him, to challenge the status quo.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThough we do not face the same dangers that threatened Europe when Camus wrote \u003ci\u003eThe Myth of Sisyphus\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Stranger\u003c\/i\u003e, we confront other alarms. Herein lies Camus' abiding significance. Reading his work, we become more thoughtful observers of our own lives. For Camus, rebellion is an eternal human condition, a timeless struggle against injustice that makes life worth living. But rebellion is also bounded by self-imposed constraints—it is a noble if impossible ideal. Such a contradiction suggests that if there is no reason for hope, there is also no occasion for despair—a sentiment perhaps better suited for the ancient tragedians than modern political theorists but one whose wisdom abides.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eYet we must not venerate suffering, Camus cautions: the world's beauty demands our attention no less than life's train of injustices. That recognition permits him to declare: \"It was the middle of winter, I finally realized that, within me, summer was inextinguishable.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47647670763756,"sku":"9780674970861","price":54.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/8c182608987b080c0e398e1a05ab8c3e.jpg?v=1779235868"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.co.nz\/collections\/robert-zaretsky.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}