View source for Pascal Bruckner

{{Short description|French writer and philosopher (born 1948)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2024}}
{{infobox philosopher
| region           = [[Western philosophy]]
| era              =  [[20th-century philosophy|20th-]]/[[21st-century philosophy]]
| name        = Pascal Bruckner
| image       = 2017.01.26. Pascal Bruckner Fot Mariusz Kubik 01.JPG
| caption     = Bruckner in 2017
| birth_date  = {{birth date and age|1948|12|15|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Paris]], [[French Fourth Republic|France]]
| alma_mater  = [[Paris I]]<br>[[University Paris Diderot|Paris VII Diderot]]<br>[[École Pratique des Hautes Études]]
| institutions = [[Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris]]
| school_tradition = [[Continental philosophy]]<br>[[New Philosophers|Nouveaux Philosophes]]
| main_interests   = [[Political philosophy]]
| influences       = 
| influenced       = 
| notable_ideas    = Criticism of the "[[White Man's Burden]]" concept
}}{{Conservatism in France|Intellectuals}}

'''Pascal Bruckner''' ({{IPA|fr|bʁyknɛʁ|lang}}; born 15 December 1948 in Paris) is a French writer, one of the "[[New Philosophers]]" who came to prominence in the 1970s and 1980s. Much of his work has been devoted to critiques of French society and culture.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2022-01-28|title=Pascal Bruckner: "En montagne, tout le monde est spontanément conservateur"|url=https://www.lefigaro.fr/livres/pascal-bruckner-en-montagne-tout-le-monde-est-spontanement-conservateur-20220128|access-date=2022-02-11|website=LEFIGARO|language=fr}}</ref>

==Biography==
Bruckner attended [[Jesuit]] schools in his youth.<ref>Bruckner, Pascal (2013). [http://chronicle.com/article/Against-Environmental-Panic/139733/ Against Environmental Panic]," ''The Chronicle of Higher Education'', 17 June 2013, accessed 29 June 2013</ref>

After studies at the universities of [[Paris I]] and [[University Paris Diderot|Paris VII Diderot]], and then at the [[École Pratique des Hautes Études]], Bruckner became ''[[maître de conférences]]'' at the [[Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris]] and a contributor to the ''[[Nouvel Observateur]]''.

Bruckner began writing in the vein of the ''[[nouveaux philosophes]]'' or New Philosophers. He published ''Parias'' (''Parias''), ''[[Evil Angels (novel)|Lunes de fiel]]'' (''Evil Angels'') (adapted as a film by [[Roman Polanski]]) and ''[[They Stole Our Beauty|Les voleurs de beauté]]'' (The Beauty Stealers) ([[Prix Renaudot]] in 1997). Among his essays are ''[[The Temptation of Innocence|La tentation de l'innocence]]'' ("The Temptation of Innocence," [[Prix Médicis]] in 1995) and, famously, ''[[The Tears of the White Man|Le Sanglot de l'homme blanc]]'' (''The Tears of the White Man''), an attack on narcissistic and destructive policies intended to benefit the Third World, and more recently ''[[The Tyranny of Guilt|La Tyrannie de la pénitence]]'' (2006), a book on the West's endless self-criticism, translated as "The Tyranny of Guilt" (2010).

From 1992 to 1999, Bruckner was a supporter of the [[Croatian War of Independence|Croatian]], [[Bosnian War|Bosniak]] and [[Kosovo War|Albanian]] causes in the [[Yugoslav Wars]], and endorsed the [[NATO bombing of Yugoslavia]] in 1999. In 2003, he supported the [[Iraq War]], but later criticized the mistakes of the U.S. military and the use of torture in [[Abu Ghraib prison|Abu Ghraib]] and [[Guantanamo Bay detention camp|Guantanamo]].{{citation needed|date=August 2018}}

In 2009, he signed a petition in support of Roman Polanski, calling for his release after Polanski was arrested in Switzerland in relation to his [[Roman Polanski sexual abuse case|1977 charge]] for drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://laregledujeu.org/2009/11/10/479/signez-la-petition-pour-roman-polanski/ |title=Signez la pétition pour Roman Polanski ! |date=10 November 2009 |website=La Règle du jeu |language=fr |access-date=29 August 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210829153459/https://laregledujeu.org/2009/11/10/479/signez-la-petition-pour-roman-polanski/ |archive-date=29 August 2021 }}</ref>

==''Le Sanglot de l'homme blanc''==
{{Main|The Tears of the White Man}}
''[[The Tears of the White Man|Le Sanglot de l'homme blanc]]'' (''The White Man's Tears''), published by the Éditions le Seuil in May 1983, was a controversial opus. The author describes the anti-Western and pro-[[Third-World]] sentimentalism of the Left in the West. The essay had an influence on a whole trend of thought, especially on [[Maurice Dantec]] and [[Michel Houellebecq]]. The title is a variation on [[Kipling]]'s "[[White Man's Burden]]".

==''La Tyrannie de la pénitence''==
{{Main|The Tyranny of Guilt}}
Bruckner's 2006 work ''[[The Tyranny of Guilt|La Tyrannie de la pénitence: Essai sur le masochisme Occidental]]'' (''The Tyranny of Guilt: An Essay on Western Masochism'') focuses on the origin and political impact of the contemporary political culture of Western guilt.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Pipes|first=Daniel|title=In Europe, Remorse Has Turned to Masochism|url=http://www.danielpipes.org/8293/europe-remorse-turned-masochism|access-date=2021-02-08|website=Daniel Pipes|date=27 April 2010 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Pipes|first=Daniel|title=The Danger of Partial No-go Zones to Europe|url=http://www.danielpipes.org/16384/the-danger-of-partial-no-go-zones-to-europe|access-date=2021-02-08|website=Daniel Pipes|date=29 December 2015 |language=en}}</ref>

===Criticism of multicultural ethnocentrism===
{{See also|Criticism of multiculturalism}}
Bruckner's polemic stance against the ethnocentric nature of some discourses of [[multiculturalism]] has kindled an international debate.<ref name=Enlightenment>Pascal Bruckner,
[http://www.signandsight.com/features/1146.html Enlightenment Fundamentalism or Racism of the Anti-Racists?], appeared originally in German in the online magazine ''[[Perlentaucher]]'' on 24 January 2007. {{in lang|en}}</ref> In an article titled "Enlightenment Fundamentalism or Racism of the Anti-Racists?", he defended [[Ayaan Hirsi Ali]]  in particular against the criticisms from [[Ian Buruma]] and [[Timothy Garton Ash]]. According to Bruckner, modern philosophers from [[Heidegger]] to [[Gadamer]], [[Derrida]], [[Max Horkheimer]] and [[Theodor Adorno]] have mounted a broad attack on the Enlightenment, claiming that "all the evils of our epoch were spawned by this philosophical and literary episode: capitalism, colonialism, totalitarianism."<ref name=Enlightenment/> Bruckner agrees that the history of the twentieth century attests to the potential of modernity for fanaticism, but argues that the modern thought that issued from the Enlightenment proved capable of criticizing its own errors, and that "Denouncing the excesses of the Enlightenment in the concepts that it forged means being true to its spirit."<ref name=Enlightenment/>

== ''Un bon fils'' ==
Bruckner's book, ''Un bon fils'', was translated and published in English in 2016, under the title ''A Dutiful Son.'' It was first published in France in 2014.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Goodreads |title=A Dutiful Son by Pascal Bruckner |url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34031506-a-dutiful-son |website=Goodreads}}</ref>

The memoir "charts his journey from pious Catholic child to leading philosopher and writer on French culture. The key figure in Bruckner's life is his father, a virulent anti-Semite, who voluntarily went to work in Germany during the Second World War. He is a violent man who beats his wife. The young Bruckner soon reacts against his father and his revenge is to become his polar opposite, even to the point of being happy to be called a ‘Jewish thinker’, which he is not. ‘My father helped me to think better by thinking against him. I am his defeat.’ Despite this opposition, he remains tied to his father to the very end. He has other ‘fathers’, men such as Sartre, Vladimir Jankélévitch and Roland Barthes who fostered his philosophical development, and describes his friendship with his ‘philosophical twin brother’, [[Alain Finkielkraut]]."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Barnes & Noble |title=A Dutiful Son |url=https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-dutiful-son-pascal-bruckner/1123531387 |website=Barnes & Noble}}</ref>

==Books==
*''Parias: roman'', Seuil, 1985, {{ISBN|978-2-02-008732-2}}.
*''[[Evil Angels (novel)|Lunes de fiel]]: roman'', Seuil, 1981, {{ISBN|978-2-02-005856-8}}.
*''Evil angels: a novel'', Grove Press, 1987, {{ISBN|978-0-394-54138-9}}.
*''[[They Stole Our Beauty|Les Voleurs de beauté: roman]]'', B. Grasset, 1997.
*''[[The Divine Child (novel)|Le divin enfant: roman]]'', Seuil, 1992, {{ISBN|978-2-02-013215-2}}.
*''The Divine Child'', Rupa & Co., 2005, {{ISBN|978-81-291-0302-4}}.
*''[[The Temptation of Innocence|La tentation de l'innocence]]'', Grasset, 1995, {{ISBN|978-2-253-13927-0}}.
*{{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DOA_Rn1uF9YC| title=Temptation of innocence| publisher=Algora Publishing| year= 2000| isbn= 978-1-892941-56-5 }}
*''[[The Tears of the White Man|Le Sanglot de l'Homme blanc]]'', Éditions du Seuil, 1983; Simon & Schuster, 1986, {{ISBN|978-0-02-904160-4}}.
*''[[The Tears of the White Man]]: Compassion As Contempt'', The Free Press, 1986, {{ISBN|978-0-02-904160-4}}.
*''[[The Tyranny of Guilt|La Tyrannie de la pénitence: Essai sur le masochisme Occidental]]'' (''The Tyranny of Guilt: An Essay on Western Masochism''), Grasset, 2006, {{ISBN|978-2-246-64161-2}}.
*{{cite book| url=https://archive.org/details/tyrannyofguiltan00bruc| url-access=registration| quote=Pascal Bruckner tyranny.| title=The Tyranny of Guilt|translator= Steven Rendall| publisher=Princeton University Press| year= 2010| isbn=978-0-691-14376-7}}
*{{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LTK50zsC0b4C&q=inauthor%3A%22Pascal+Bruckner%22+tears| title=Perpetual Euphoria: On the Duty to Be Happy|translator= Steven Rendall| publisher=Princeton University Press| year= 2011| isbn= 978-0-691-14373-6 }}
*''The Fanaticism of the Apocalypse: Save the Earth, Punish Human Beings'', translator Steven Rendall =<ref>[http://politybooks.com/book.asp?ref=9780745669762 PolityBooks.com] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130627164810/http://politybooks.com/book.asp?ref=9780745669762 |date=27 June 2013 }}</ref> {{ISBN|9780745669762}}.
*''The Paradox of Love'', translator Steven Rendall,  Princeton University Press, 2012,  {{ISBN|9780691149141}}.
*''Has Marriage for Love Failed?'', translators Steven Rendall and Lisa Neal, Polity Books, 2013, {{ISBN|9780745669786}}.
*''An Imaginary Racism: Islamophobia and Guilt'', translator Steven Rendall, Cambridge, UK, Medford, MA, Polity Books, 2018. {{ISBN|9781509530663}}<ref>{{Cite book|last=Bruckner|first=Pascal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5Ht-DwAAQBAJ|title=An Imaginary Racism: Islamophobia and Guilt|date=2018-11-26|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1-5095-3066-3|language=en}}</ref>
*''They Stole our Beauty'', translator Stuart Bell, The 87 Press, 2019. {{ISBN|9781916477414}}<ref>{{Cite book|last=Bruckner|first=Pascal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iuLFzQEACAAJ|title=They Stole Our Beauty|date=2019|publisher=87 Press|isbn=978-1-9164774-1-4|language=en}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.signandsight.com/features/687.html ''The Asterix complex''], interview with Pascal Bruckner at signandsight.com
* {{Perlentaucher|pascal-bruckner}}
* [http://www.signandsight.com/features/1710.html Boycott Durban II By Pascal Bruckner], 16 June 2008
* {{usurped|1=[https://archive.today/20130415065315/http://mantlethought.org/content/interview-pascal-bruckner Philosophy: Pushing the Limits. An Interview with Pascal Bruckner. Listen or download Bruckner interviewed by JK Fowler on February 26, 2011.]}}
* On Islamic Terrorism: Interview for Croatian Television, November 2015 (French). http://www.hrt.hr/309915/vijesti/bruckner-za-hrt-dio-francuskih-muslimana-odlucio-se-odcijepiti-od-drustva

{{Pascal Bruckner}}
{{Prix Renaudot}}
{{New Philosophers}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bruckner, Pascal}}
[[Category:Writers from Paris]]
[[Category:1948 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:20th-century French novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century French male writers]]
[[Category:21st-century French novelists]]
[[Category:French critics of Islam]]
[[Category:Critics of multiculturalism]]
[[Category:French agnostics]]
[[Category:Prix Médicis essai winners]]
[[Category:Prix Renaudot winners]]
[[Category:French male essayists]]
[[Category:French male novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century French essayists]]
[[Category:21st-century French essayists]]
[[Category:21st-century French male writers]]
[[Category:New Philosophers]]