Massimo Recalcati - The Temptation of the Wall

1 Cover

2 Title Page The Temptation of the Wall Five Short Lessons on Civil Life Massimo Recalcati Translated by Alice Kilgarriff polity

3 Copyright Originally published in Italian as La tentazione del muro . Copyright © Giangiacomo Feltrinelli srl, Milano. First published in ‘Varia’ as La tentazione del muro by Massimo Recalcati, in May 2020. Published under licence of Giangiacomo Feltrinelli Editore, Milano. This English edition © Polity Press, 2022 Excerpt from Sigmund Freud, ‘The Future of an Illusion’ in The Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Volume XXI, Vintage, London, 2001, reproduced by kind permission of Penguin Random House. Excerpt from Sigmund Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents , by permission of The Marsh Agency Ltd on behalf of Sigmund Freud Copyrights. Excerpt from Roberto Esposito, Dieci pensieri sulla politica , il Mulino, Bologna, 2011, reproduced by kind permission of il Mulino. Excerpt from Jean-Luc Nancy’s ‘The Intruder’, Corpus , Fordham University Press, New York, 2008, reproduced by kind permission of Fordham University Press. Polity Press 65 Bridge Street Cambridge CB2 1UR, UK Polity Press 101 Station Landing Suite 300 Medford, MA 02155, USA All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-4880-4 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Control Number: 2021942282 The publisher has used its best endeavours to ensure that the URLs for external websites referred to in this book are correct and active at the time of going to press. However, the publisher has no responsibility for the websites and can make no guarantee that a site will remain live or that the content is or will remain appropriate. Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders, but if any have been overlooked the publisher will be pleased to include any necessary credits in any subsequent reprint or edition. For further information on Polity, visit our website: politybooks.com

4 Dedication Dedication To Stefano Coletta and Pietro Galeotti, the first people to believe in this lexicon

5 Endorsement The fateful question for the human species seems to me to be whether and to what extent their cultural development will succeed in mastering the disturbance of their communal life by the human instinct of aggression and self-destruction. Sigmund Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents

6 Warning

7 Introduction Notes

8 1 The Border Roots and Freedom The Uncivil Disease of the Wall Contamination Delirium The Temptation of the Wall The First Face of the Foreigner The Fearful Sensation of Life The Intruder We Are All Foreigners Notes

9 2 Hate The Passion of Hate Hate is Older than Love Hate or the Word? Hate as an Alternative to the Painful Labour of Mourning Envious Hate Envy of Life Notes

10 3 Ignorance The Father-as-Master The Consolidation of Ignorance The Democracy of Books An Anecdote about Freud In Praise of Ignorance Notes

11 4 Fanaticism The Power of a Flag The Fanatical Phantom of Purity Escape from Freedom The Inhumane Primacy of the Idea The Universal and the Particular The Spirit of Sacrifice Notes

12 5 Freedom The Urge to Freedom The Sado-Masochistic Bond We Never Live Alone Degeneration of Freedom Populism as an Incestuous Deviation of Democracy The Poetry of Institutions Notes

13 End User License Agreement

1 Cover

2 Table of Contents

3 Title Page

4 Copyright

5 Dedication

6 Endorsement

7 Warning

8 Introduction

9 Begin Reading

10 End User License Agreement

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Massimo Recalcati

Translated by Alice Kilgarriff

polity

Originally published in Italian as La tentazione del muro . Copyright © Giangiacomo Feltrinelli srl, Milano. First published in ‘Varia’ as La tentazione del muro by Massimo Recalcati, in May 2020. Published under licence of Giangiacomo Feltrinelli Editore, Milano.

This English edition © Polity Press, 2022

Excerpt from Sigmund Freud, ‘The Future of an Illusion’ in The Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Volume XXI, Vintage, London, 2001, reproduced by kind permission of Penguin Random House.

Excerpt from Sigmund Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents , by permission of The Marsh Agency Ltd on behalf of Sigmund Freud Copyrights.

Excerpt from Roberto Esposito, Dieci pensieri sulla politica , il Mulino, Bologna, 2011, reproduced by kind permission of il Mulino.

Excerpt from Jean-Luc Nancy’s ‘The Intruder’, Corpus , Fordham University Press, New York, 2008, reproduced by kind permission of Fordham University Press.

Polity Press

65 Bridge Street

Cambridge CB2 1UR, UK

Polity Press

101 Station Landing

Suite 300

Medford, MA 02155, USA

All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-4880-4

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021942282

The publisher has used its best endeavours to ensure that the URLs for external websites referred to in this book are correct and active at the time of going to press. However, the publisher has no responsibility for the websites and can make no guarantee that a site will remain live or that the content is or will remain appropriate.

Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders, but if any have been overlooked the publisher will be pleased to include any necessary credits in any subsequent reprint or edition.

For further information on Polity, visit our website:

politybooks.com

To Stefano Coletta and Pietro Galeotti, the first people to believe in this lexicon

The fateful question for the human species seems to me to be whether and to what extent their cultural development will succeed in mastering the disturbance of their communal life by the human instinct of aggression and self-destruction.