H20 and the Waters of Forgetfulness

Philosopher and social analyst Ivan Illich, one of the most influential thinkers of second half of this century, directs his attention to waterm the 'stuff' of purity and the creative force of the imagination without which life in unthinkable. He deals with the dual nature of water, as life-giving material substance and as the wellspring of forml, on which are founded the most basic myths and cultural manifestations: water as cleanser, water as domestic necessity and water as a religious and spiritual force.

Auteur

Ivan Illich was born in Vienna to a Croatian father and Sephardic-Jewish mother, and had as native languages Italian, French and German. He later learnt Serbo-Croatian, the language of his grand-fathers, then Ancient Greek and Latin, as well as Spanish, Portuguese and Hindi. Thereafter, he studied histology and crystallography at the University of Florence (Italy), theology and philosophy at the Pontifical Gregorian University in the Vatican (1942-1946) and medieval history in Salzburg. He is the author of Tools for Conviviality, The Right to Useful Unemployment, Energy and Equity, Limits to Medicine, Shadow Work, Gender, H2O and the Waters of Forgetfulness, ABC: The Alphabetization of the Popular Mind, Deschooling Society and In the Mirror of the Past: Lectures and Addresses 1978-1990. Illich lived much of his life in Mexico and the United States, he died in 2002.