“There is no great genius without a touch of madness.” , Aristotle Since antiquity, the idea of a link between madness and artistic creation has haunted the human imagination. Long confined to the realm of poets and philosophers, this question found new ground for exploration with the rise of psychoanalysis: the unconscious. From Freud onward,…
My name is Tarik Bouchnayf, and I’m a fiction writer working across several genres, including epic fantasy, science fiction, and dystopia. With eight published novels, I’ve embarked on a journey that continues to evolve with every story I write.In this series of posts, I’ll be sharing my personal experiences and reflections on writing novels, especially…
Madness and Civilization, first published in 1961, is one of Michel Foucault’s foundational works. Widely regarded as a pioneering study in the history of thought and social philosophy, this book examines how the concept of madness was constructed within Western societies. Targeted at readers interested in philosophy, sociology, and the humanities, Foucault’s work challenges modern…
Published in 1967, The Society of the Spectacle is a seminal work by French theorist and filmmaker Guy Debord, a central figure in the Situationist International movement. This essay presents a penetrating analysis of modern society, marked by the dominance of images and media-driven representations. More than a mere observation, it offers a radical critique…
What if our memory wasn’t as limited as we believe? Remembering every name, every face, or even the smallest details of a book read years ago isn’t a fantasy reserved for geniuses. In a world where we increasingly outsource our memories to devices, Joshua Foer invites us, through his 2011 book Moonwalking with Einstein, to rediscover…
Is it possible to kill in the name of an idea? Can one, through pure logic, erase a human being from the world’s equation without something within us recoiling? Rodion Raskolnikov, the tormented protagonist of Crime and Punishment, tried to do just that. A brilliant student fallen into poverty, he devises a cold and implacable…
Reading is one of the most fascinating feats of the human brain, a mysterious intersection of culture and biology that astonishes with both its apparent simplicity and the astonishing complexity it conceals. We move our eyes across black lines on a page or screen, and suddenly, an entire world unfolds, rich with thoughts, emotions, and…
There was a time when reading was a refuge, a lucid pause in the noise of everyday life. Today, that silence is rare. Our days are broken into digital fragments, swept away by a constant stream of messages, notifications, and screens that seize our attention without ever truly holding it. In this perpetual state of…
What if your so-called perfect life, shaped by possessions and routines, was nothing more than an illusion? Fight Club, the cult classic directed by David Fincher and released in 1999, doesn’t just pose this question, it confronts it head-on. More than a film, it is a scathing critique of modern society and a haunting exploration…
For centuries, beneath the domes of ancient tekke lodges and to the echo of Rumi’s verses, men dressed in flowing white robes have spun tirelessly, their arms extending outward as if to touch the sky. This is no performance for spectacle. Rather, it is an act of surrender; to the breath of the divine, to…