Hope Against Hope

Nadia Mandelstam

Hopelessness is a much maligned sentiment. It's such a horrific admission that most people jump through hoops to avoid it. But is the denial worth it? Secretary of State Tony Blinken is running around like a chicken with its head cut off when maybe the more productive approach would be to admit being at ground zero. Neither apathy nor obliviousness to suffering is what is called for. You may have heard the phrase "take the action and drop the results." Along with the eye for an eye for an eye paradigm, turn the other cheek. Contrariety is no stranger to human behavior. Isn’t that the quintessence of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission created in the aftermath of South African Apartheid. You cannot change anyone. MAGA Republicans are steadfast in their loyalty no matter how many felonies their leader is convicted of—under the theory that Reality lies only in the eyes of the beholder. Hope Against Hope is Nadia Mandelstam's memoir of the persecution off her husband, the poet Osip Mandelstam, during the Stalinist era.

read the review of Francis Levy's The Kafka Studies Department on Booklife

and watch the trailer for Erotomania which will be featured in the Nihilist Film Festival