2023-05-04 12:00:50
In the era of extreme utilitarianism, of screens, of maximizing productivity as a way of life, and of artificial intelligence, Nuccio Order (Diamante, Italy 1958), recent winner of the Princess of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities, stands out as a transgressive thinker as he has demonstrated ‘The utility of the useless’, to mention his popular essay, in which he explained that education and culture have a value by itself, intrinsic, a humanistic value. Apart from such a celebrated work, the essayist has a bibliography with other titles that also deserve to be highlighted. Let’s go with it.
– ‘The utility of the useless‘ (2013): we start with his celebrated essay, where the Italian professor and philosopher argues that education should focus on the intrinsic value of knowledge and culture instead of focusing on its practical and monetary utility. Actually, it is a manifesto that vindicates the value of culture, art and literature against the dominant utilitarianism and mercantilism in today’s society. The author defends that the useless is necessary for human development and that without it there would be no creativity or freedom.
– ‘Classics for life’ (2015): a small ideal library that collects fragments of masterpieces of universal literature, from Antiquity to the 20th century, accompanied by brief comments by the author. The book is an invitation to read and reread the great authors who help us better understand the world and ourselves. In other words, a place to dialogue with Cervantes, Shakespeare, Balzac or Montaigne, among many others.
[Aquí puede leer una reseña mucho más amplia de Fernando R. Lafuente]
– ‘men are not islands‘ (2023): an expansion of the author’s ‘ideal library’, which starts from John Donne’s famous meditation to propose more selected pages of universal literature. The author argues that a brilliant quote can arouse the reader’s curiosity and encourage them to read the work from which it comes, as well as to reflect on the universal themes that it addresses. With this book, Ordine completed his trilogy on the classics that “help to live.”
[Lea una entrevista de ABC con el autor a raíz de este libro]
– ‘Three crowns for a king’ (2022): an essay on Dante Alighieri, the great poet of the ‘Divine Comedy’. The book is a tribute to the genius of Dante on the 700th anniversary of his death.
– ‘Threshold of Shadow’ (2003): an essay on Giordano Bruno, the Renaissance philosopher who was sentenced to the stake for his heterodox ideas. The author explores the relationships between literature, philosophy and painting in Bruno’s work, as well as his influence on later authors such as Shakespeare, Cervantes or Joyce. George Steiner said of this work: “A monumental and exciting introduction to Giordano Bruno, where literature and painting, philosophy and science intertwine in a perspective that links past and present.”
– ‘The inconvenient guest‘ (2022): precisely, linking to Steiner’s quote, we add a bit as a curious bizarre this book testimony of the deep personal and intellectual friendship that united both thinkers. The love of the classics, the passion for teaching, the defense of the role of the teacher, the essential function of literature that humanizes humanity are the themes of an intense dialogue, fueled by more than fifteen years of meetings and trips to various European cities. Ordine draws an original portrait of George Steiner, painting him as an “unwelcome guest.” Because Steiner inhabited literature, Judaism and existence as a very special guest: without respecting conventions or taboos and he said some things that many would not have wanted to hear. It is not translated into Spanish at the moment.
#key #works #Nuccio #Ordine