The Spinoza Problem

A Novel About Spinoza

Novels about the life and philosophy of Spinoza (1632 -- 1677) are as difficult as they are rare. In 1837, the German novelist Berthold Auerbach (1812 -- 1884) wrote an unfortunately little-remembered novel, revised in 1854, about Spinoza which focused upon what the author portrayed as the philosopher's ambiguous relationship to Judaism. Much more recently, the renowned American psychotherapist and novelist Irvin Yalom has written a novel with Spinoza as its major figure: "The Spinoza Problem" (2012). Yalom's earlier philosophical novels discuss Schopenhauer and Nietzsche in the context of psychotherapy, and this book as well closely combines Yalom's passion for philosophy with his life work as a therapist.

Yalom's novel skillfully juxtaposes two stories: a history of Spinoza and a history of the Nazi writer Alfred Rosenberg (1883 -- 1946), who was hanged for war crimes at Nuremberg. Rosenberg wrote a book called "The Myth of the Twentieth Century" and edited a major Nazi newspaper, among his other activities for the regime. When the Nazis occupied the Netherlands, Rosenberg pillaged the Spinoza House, including its collection of 151 books, which were replicas (not the original copies) of works the philosopher had in his library. The robbery of the Spinoza library is the only known connection between Rosenberg and Spinoza. Yalom makes it the basis of his dual historical story.

The book is a work of fiction and imagination. It is important to separate fact from artistic license, and Yalom endeavors to do so in a note at the end of the novel. The more interesting sections of the book involve the great philosopher. Yalom describes his early life, his training in Judaism, the circumstances leading to his excommunication from the Amsterdam Jewish community, and his subsequent life and writings with great insight, drama, and plausibility. Spinoza's thought is discussed both in the sections of the book set in the Netherlands and in the sections set in Nazi Germany. The exposition is simply presented for lay readers, with the explosive nature of his thinking retained. Yalom draws much of the discussion verbatim from Spinoza's two great books, the "Theological Political Treatise" and the "Ethics"; for the most part, the lengthy philosophical discussions are integrated well with the flow of the novel.

Yalom also offers a philosophical critique of Spinoza which, he recognizes is something of an anachronism. He draws on a study by the American philosopher Rebecca Goldstein, Betraying Spinoza: The Renegade Jew Who Gave Us Modernity (Jewish Encounters) to critique Spinoza's rationalism at the expense of the emotional life. More surprisingly, Yalom introduces a character who critiques Spinoza from the standpoint of a much latter-day secular Reconstructionist Judaism and who is particularly harsh on Spinoza's clearly 17th century attitude towards women.

Yalom mostly imagines novelistically Rosenberg's relationship to Spinoza. He shows the young Rosenberg about to be expelled from his preparatory school for making antisemitic comments in a class election. He is required to read Goethe's autobiography and write out the many laudatory references Goethe makes about Spinoza. Later in the book Rosenberg undergoes therapy with an old family friend (a fictitious character in his entirety) who probes into his depression, isolation, attitude towards Hitler, and increasingly strident antisemitism. Spinoza becomes a figure to be used in understanding oneself and one's emotions, which Rosenberg is singularly unable to do. In addition, Spinoza with his critique of revealed religion becomes a figure with some resemblances to Rosenberg's own dislike of religion, both Judaism and Christianity. The therapist tries without success to use Spinoza to ease his subject's hatred of Jews. Hence the "Spinoza Problem" becomes the title of the book and of Rosenberg's activities in the Nazi Regime.

Yalom has written a novel of ideas which works effectively as a novel. It is an excellent critical introduction to a great philosopher and to the sometimes difficult claims of the mind and the heart.

Robin Friedman

The reference to Berthold Auerbach is taken from a recent study examining how Jewish sources treat Spinoza by Daniel Schwartz, "The First Modern Jew: Spinoza and the History of an Image."