Beyond Despair

The inability to express the horrors of the Holocaust, combined with guilt feelings of the survivors, led to silence. Appelfeld explores the role of art in redeeming pain from darkness, and the conflicting desires to speak out and to keep silent. He forcefully argues that the Jewish people need a spiritual vision. In his conversation with Philip Roth, Appelfeld sheds light on his work and talks with candor about his life, influences, and concerns.

Winner, Prix Pierre Lafue Winner, Prix lycéen du livre d’histoire des Rendez-vous de l’histoire de Blois In the archives of the main institution in charge of the history and memory of the genocide in Rwanda, several bundles of fragile little school notebooks contain, in the silence of accumulated dust, the stories of around a hundred surviving children. Written in 2006 at the initiative of a Rwandan survivors’ association, as a testimonial and psychological catharsis, these accounts by children who have since become young men and women tell the story of their experience of the genocide, as well as of “life before” and “life after.” The words of these children, the cruel realism of the scenes they describe, the power of the emotions they express, provide the historian with an unparalleled insight into the subjectivities of the survivors, and also enable us to take on board the murderous discourse and gestures of those who eradicated their world of childhood forever. Far from abstract postulates on the “unspeakable,” Beyond Despair offers a reflection on the conditions that make audible such an experience of dereliction in the twilight of the twentieth century. This work received support for excellence in publication and translation from Albertine Translation, a program created by Villa Albertine and funded by FACE Foundation.

Are you seeking to join with young people who are experiencing ongoing despair and suffering? Find way of honouring the injustices and oppression they may be experiencing as well as the skills and wisdoms they are using to respond?If so, this book has been created with you in mind. In these pages, you will find hopeful and effective ideas and practices for re-authoring young people's lives. Also throughout is a determination to bring forth political considerations that situate lives in broader social and historical contexts. Whether you are new to narrative therapy or whether you are seeking to extend your narrative skills, we hope the moving stories of practice included in these pages will provide you, and the young people with whom you work, hope and possibilities beyond despair.

“Beyond Hope and Despair” is the second in the Galanor Saga Series. It picks up exactly where Volume I (“Beyond Good and Evil”) leaves off. It is a novel written in three parts (Books One. Two and Three). Each can be read as a separate work or, as designed, as part of the complete novel. Book One finds Galanor (who is now the commander of an elite mercenary corps known as the Panther Legion) on the field of a recently fought battle. He has lost his will to live and, since the death of beloved Kara, and her entire universe, by his actions, insane with guilt and despair. Azool visits Galanor while he wanders among the dead, and renews his demand (only now with more vigor) for Galanor to join him in his struggle to “free” reality from “order.” Following Galano’s rebuke Azool visits the Legionnaires with sudden madness. This causes them to turn on one another. The most affected by this is Pharon, who, under Azool’s influence (which continues throughout the novel) turns on his lifelong friend. Galanor finds himself swept up in court intrigue and falling in love with the empress, whose husband had commissioned Galanor’s Legion to defend his borders. This put Galanor at direct odds with the empire’s High Lord General, Sargon. Sargon aligns himself with a wizard, who has a personal grudge with Galanor dating back to Atlantis. Together they plot to kidnap the empress and destroy Galanor in the process. After a long series of devastating encounters Galanor, on the verge of death, is sent into the desert to die. He is rescued by a shadowy, mythical figure who begins his road to mental and spiritual recovery, outside the bounds of reality. Book Two finds Pharon and the entire remaining members of the Panther Legion, in prison awaiting death at the hands of Sargon (who has taken control of the empire from the feckless emperor, who grieves over his wife’s absence). Azool has been visiting Pharon, who has now become his agent. Galanor, having left the care of his benefactor, has taken on a new companion (who had been given to him while he was being healed). He is a powerful, sleek dog named Anubis, whose spiritual and physical presence helps Galanor cement some of the soul saving lessons he had learned (though he cannot recall how). Together, they meet a young warrior and priestess who are on a desperate mission to save their city from sure and certain destruction at the hands of a vast, marauding army. Galanor must choose between returning back for his comrades or going forward, in search of the kidnapped empress and helping the young couple and their city. He chooses the latter while conceiving a plan to do the former. After a devastating battle to free the now enslaved city, Galanor is swept into the arms of a goddess who wants him for her own. He also discovers an old and trusted friend along the way. His friend, Enkidu, tells him of a “world beneath the world” that might help his kidnapped love. It is a place where only the dead may enter. He and Anubis do so. Book Three finds the young warrior in search of an old friend and warrior chief whom Galanor and Pharon had rescued during a sea battle. This man and his band of elite stealth warriors, agree to help the young warrior free the Legionnaires before their execution. Galanor and Anubis cross into the land of shadows and emerge in a land not far from where the empress has been imprisoned by the insane wizard. Pharon and the Legionaries are freed and with the aid of the stealth warriors, become the agents of fate. Galanor encounters Azool one last time in a battle of wills. He defeats an old enemy and does battle with the wizard to rescue the woman he loves. As “Beyond Good and Evil” was a novel about the power of love and commitment, “Beyond Hope and Despair,” is a novel about the power of redemption.

Pt. 1. The end of the industrial era. Where are we? -- The coming of the communications era. Thinking along new lines -- Work and the right to an income -- Education -- Health -- Justice -- Pt. 3. Government in the communications era. Listening and learning -- On the local level -- Information, knowledge, and decision-making -- Pt. 4. Strategies in the communications era. Creating change.

Having been mentored by Viktor E. Frankl, the founder of logotherapy, Emeritus Professor David Guttmann authored this book so general readers may understand this approach to finding meaning in life at the point when most of us begin deeply wondering over that question, at midlife and beyond. Especially in this day and age of multiple demands on our time and seemingly non-stop obligations, we too often find that it is only when the dust settles, after a work day or work week, or even after retirement, when we begin to wonder: What is the meaning of life? The purpose? This book is a new millennium venture into those questions and their answers using logotherapy, written by a sage understudy who recalls Frankl, with his logotherapy, as the epitome of his theory even at 80 years old, wise and witty, exuding an energy, enthusiasm and youthful spirit that belied his years by decades. Aging does not diminish our power, our energy, and our quest for life, but reshapes it with new understandings, goals, and needs. But, says Guttmann, we live in a technical and machine-based world now, in which there is a danger of losing our souls. Here, readers find a new, creative perspective on aging and a fresh spiritual outlook. This book will be of interest not only to general readers, especially those at midlife and beyond, but also to their families, friends, and students or professionals in the helping professions. This unique work provides knowledge to find meaning in life derived from the fields of philosophy, psychology, religion and gerontology, with case illustrations and vignettes to give readers both intellectual pleasure and practical guidance.

"Elias Chacour, a Palestinian-born Christian and Israeli citizen, is a living symbol of hope amid the fear and conflict that daily disrupt the lives of the people among whom he lives and works as Archbishop of Galilee." "In this book, Elias Chacour describes his struggle to be a light in the darkness of hatred and terror, to see friends and enemies alike as God sees them, to break the endless cycles of violence and retaliation. Yet for all his struggle, he is full of hope and his joy is irrepressible."--BOOK JACKET.