In 2016 Ágnes Heller and Riccardo Mazzeo took part in the literary festival “Pordenonelegge”, where they were invited to discuss the book Beauty will (not) save us, written by Ágnes Heller and Zygmunt Bauman, for which Riccardo had written an extended preface. In the wake of their well accepted presentations, and taking account of the general interest, Riccardo suggested that the topic could be expanded for greater rigor of engagement. Thus each of them wrote an essay and both contributions were published together by the Italian publishing house Erickson.
In her contribution, Heller, one of our most prominent living European philosophers, talks about the unsolvable tensions and problems of imagination that nourish the deepest roots of utopian thinking. Is utopia erasable? Obviously not, because we are propelled towards a continuously better world. Is it dangerous? Obviously yes, because trying to better a world filled with so many different views exposes us to the very concrete risk of a totalitarian, tragic result, i.e. a dystopia.
Mazzeo starts where Heller leaves off, describing three powerful dystopias addressed by contemporary literature: The Circle, by Dave Eggers, 2084, by Boualem Sansal, and The Possibility of an Island, by Michel Houellebecq. In his comments Mazzeo seeks to clarify the kinds of disasters hypertechnology, Islamic fundamentalism, and cloning can produce for human society. He then comments on the subject from a sociological perspective, agreeing with Heller about urging caution with utopia.
The two authors make for a striking and compelling contrast. Ágnes Heller in her long life faced true totalitarianisms. This experience immunized her from extreme temptations once and for all. Riccardo Mazzeo has been influenced by radical thinkers such as Adorno, Simmel, and most recently Zygmunt Bauman, Byung-Chul Han and Hartmut Rosa. Both Heller and Mazzeo, however, are convinced of the palpable danger of the neo-nazi wave spreading like wildfire from the U.S. and Donald Trump to many European countries, including the cynical Órban, Salvini and their buddies. This is the most important reason why a book like this can help form critical analyses of our nations and the world we live in: to prevent oversimplifications likely to have a serious impact on democracy and the pursuit of a life of happiness for us all.
On July 19, 2019, Ágnes Heller sadly passed away. ‘Unbelievable that such a strong and almost magic woman was dead, but her memory will always enlighten our way.’