Yalom, Irvin D.:
The Spinoza problem : a novel

Brunswick, Vic. : Scribe Publications, 2012. - xii, 324 pp.

Other editions / translations: Erneut/again:
Niederländisch/Dutch (2012)
Deutsch/German (2012)
Ital. (2012)
Türkisch/Turkish (2012)
Russisch/Russian (2012)
Katalan. (2013)
Französisch/French (2012, 2018)
Arabisch/Arabian (2019)
Portugiesisch (2019)

Literature type: Lyrics, Prose, Films, Arts
Language: English
Thematic areas: Biography, Epistemology / methodology / philosophy of mind, Anthropology / psychology / doctrine of affections / body and mind, Reception history, Literary or artistic representation
Subject (individuals): Rosenberg, Alfred

Reviews: Zabcı (2015)

Autopsy: yes
English commentary: A new novel exploring the inner life of Spinoza - a man who changed the course of history by paving the way for the Enlightenment, who founded the field of biblical criticism, and who formulated many ideas highly relevant to the field of psychotherapy.
A second plot explores the personal development and inner life of Alfred Rosenberg, the major Nazi ideologue, who played a decisive role in the Nazi destruction of European Jews. Though Spinoza and Rosenberg lived three hundred years apart, Rosenberg and the Nazis had a thorny "Spinoza problem": many revered German thinkers, among them Goethe, revered the Jew Spinoza. This paradox is at the heart of this novel.
As to the wide spread awareness of this problem with the adherents of the NS ideology and their reactions, cf. Walther 2013 .

Link to this page: http://spinoza.hab.de/detail.php?id=686&LANG=EN