Hope and Defeat: John Berger's Enduring Legacy
As the centenary of John Berger's birth approaches, new publications reveal his consistent focus on the human body, poverty, and capitalism. His later works, including the pilgrimage account Four Horizons, blend profound courage on issues like Palestine with a sometimes frustrating folksy piety. Berger's unique style avoided pretension, offering intimate reflections on art, architecture, and the defeated, leaving a complex legacy of hope amidst defeat.
Here I unhesitatingly identify myself with the just cause and the pain of those whom the state of Israel (and cousins of mine) are afflicting to a degree that is tragically totalitarian.