Hannah Arendt’s Ambiguous Storytelling

What really impresses me with Moskalewicz is that he opens up a fresh reading of Arendt’s writings. He takes Arendt’s argument seriously that after the breach in tradition (for which we only have the words ‘Holocaust’ or ‘Shoah’), no solid scientific research can be done without critically reviewing the methodological presuppositions and consequences of scientific thinking. * Antonia Grunenberg, Professor Emerita, Hannah Arendt Centre, Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Germany *
Pondering the perplexing incoherence of The Origins of Totalitarianism, whose sections on anti-Semitism and imperialism provide scant explanation for the causes of totalitarian politics, Moskalewicz arrives at a provocative new understanding of Arendt’s approach to the relationship between historical narration and acting in the present. Embracing inconsistency, fragmentation, discontinuity and paradox, she sought a way to tell the stories of the past that would clear the ground for a radically new future. * Martin Jay, Ehrman Professor of European History Emeritus, UC Berkeley, USA *
Is Arendt also among the philosophers of history? In this intriguing study, Moskalewicz not only distils a historical theory out of Arendt’s work but presents this theory as a key to her oeuvre. This is a daring book, written with verve, adding a major new voice to current debates on historical meaning and representation. * Herman Paul, Professor of the History of the Humanities, Leiden University, the Netherlands *
I consider Marcin Moskalewicz’s book the most impressive achievement. The way he has mastered the complexities of not only Arendt’s philosophy but, at the same time, that of such notoriously difficult and inaccessible thinkers as Kant and Heidegger deserves the greatest praise. * Frank Ankersmit, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy of History and Intellectual History, Groningen University, the Netherlands *