Italien, 1564 - 1642

Indeholder "1. Galileo Galilei, lærer i matematik i Padua, vil bevise det ny kopernikanske verdenssystem", "2. Galilei overrækker republikken Venedig en ny opfindelse", "3. 10. januar 1610: Ved hjælp af kikkerten opdager Galilei fænomener på himlen, som beviser det kopernikanske system. Hans ven advarer ham mod de mulige følger af hans forskning, men Galilei bekræfter sin tro på den menneskelige fornuft", "4. Galilei har opgivet republikken Venedig til fordel for det florentinske hof. Hans opdagelser i kikkerten støder på vantro blandt de daværende videnskabsmænd", "5. End ikke pesten afskrækker Galilei fra at forske videre", "6. 1616: Collegium Romanum, Vatikanets forskningsinstitut, bekræfter Galileis opdagelse", "7. Men Inkvisitionen sætter den kopernikanske lære på Index (5. marts 1616)", "8. En samtale", "9. Valget af en ny pave, der selv er videnskabsmand, opmuntrer Galilei til at bryde otte års tavshed og genoptage sin forskning på det forbudte opråde. Solpletterne", "10. I de næste ti år udbredes Galileis lære blandt folket. Pamfletister og markedssangere tager overalt de nye ideer op. Til fastelavn 1632 vælger mange italienske byer astronomien som motiv for lavenes fastelavnsoptog", "11. 1633: Inkvisitionen beordrer den verdensberømte videnskabsmand til Rom", "12. Paven", "13. 22. juni 1633 tilbagekalder Galileo Galilei for Inkvisitionen sin lære om jordens bevægelse", "14. 1633 - 1642. Galileo Galilei lever sine sidste år som Inkvisitionens fange i et hus i nærheden af Florens. 'Discorsi'", "15. 1637. Galileis bog "Discorsi" overskrider den italienske grænse".

Galileo Galilei opfinder kikkerten og kan snart vise at Solsystemet har Solen som centrum og ikke Jorden. Det falder ikke i god jord hos Vatikanet og efter at Inkvisitionen har vist ham deres torturinstrumenter tilbagekalder han sin lære. Det får dog ikke Solen til at begynde at dreje rundt om Jorden. Galileo bliver idømt fængsel, men en dag senere blev dette ændret til husarrest. I sine sidste leveår skrev han hovedværket om den mekaniske fysik "Discorsi".
Pave Johannes Paul II erkendte i 1992 formelt, efter 13 års kommissionsundersøgelse, at det var forkert af den katolske kirke at dømme Galilei for sin påstand om, at Jorden bevæger sig omkring Solen.

Stykket er skrevet i Hitler-tyskland 1938/1939. ( )

Brecht tells us he needs to talk about important things but he's going to switch the time frame for a variety of reasons, thus Galileo. It's excellent. The battle of truth and authority where we all know truth is right and authority is wrong. Difficult only because we live in the age of Trump so the timelessness is front and center. It reads quickly and esily but it's wrapped between a very daunting Introduction and a heavy heavy author's appendix. We all know the Devil is Hitler and this is all going to end badly. ( )

This book, as the introduction delineates, was originally written in Fascist Germany whose attitude towards science and knowledge in general paralleled the ignorance of the Papacy in Galileo's era. Then in a post-atomic-bomb world with two superpowers on the brink, Brecht adapted this play into a new set of concerns about the "fruit" of knowledge. As such, in our era of Trumpian ignorance and North Korean nuclear ambition (two parties who just today sat down in Singapore), this work remains relevant to contemporary life. The sophistication required in this thematic rework over fifteen years transformed this book into a more readable and more timeless piece.

Yes, this book is not non-fiction technically as it is historical fiction. No one knows the details of what Galileo thought and spoke a long time ago. These remain inaccessible and buried. Nonetheless, historical fiction will be chronicled in this blog as it provides insight and access into situations of history that might remain obscured were it not for the efforts of novelists and playwrights.

The plot in this work was straightforward enough. It described Galileo interacting with family, the ruling class, and the clergy in the ancient Italian city-states. Eventually, papal forces move him to recant his discovery that the earth revolves around the sun in exchange for the ability to live a normal life. (Jupiter's multiple moons play a curiously prominent role in this narrative, a role I do not think I fully grasp.) His recantation obviously caused him to lose popularity among those in favor of enlightenment, but in Brecht's telling at least, he remained popular among the people for thinking like them instead of the scholastics. Of course, Galileo won the war as few today would side with a earth-centered view of the universe.

As suggested above, this book housed two dominant themes: The triumph of science over ignorance and the care needed to make science serve the social good. In the latter theme, Brecht tended in a quasi-Marxist direction (which could also be considered merely populist or even democratic) that the "people" were/are the final judge of the good.

I find it most curious to wonder why and how people of the clerical set would object to the point of threatening death to Galileo over the issue of what lay at the center of the universe. To them, it threatened the medieval order established in Thomas Aquinas that God dwelt in the heavens and that the Pope (and the clergy through him) were centrally governing the world. The people could not and should not think for themselves. It is Galileo's, Brecht's, and my contention that people need to care for this world (in the face of Fascism, atomic bombs, or Trumpianism) with responsibility and reason. Sometimes, defeats might come along this path, but the battle must be won by each generation if we are to persevere as the human race.
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Read it while parallel-ly studying the modern history of the world... Loved it.. Went from cover to cover in 60-70 mins! Just shows what a brilliant man Galileo was ( )

Young man, I do not eat my cheese absentmindedly.

Despite my perforated memory, I can still cling to triumph, most of which are the achievements of others but alas I can still appreciate. I thought about Brecht at the end of his life this morning while enjoying this masterful narrative. Did he regard himself as recanted? Did his petty tyranny of the women in his life strike him as abominable? Galileo as depicted by Brecht is too pragmatic to be disarmed by such pondering. He is at ease groveling for appointments as he understands the alternative. Aside from the necessity of obsequiousness he recognizes the need of discretion and the effects of The Age of Reason not only on the established order but on human existential orientation. He anticipates Weber’s disenchantment but finds solace in wine, bread and conversation.

What of my own missteps and absences? As a reader I blunder about with wistful grasps at concepts and reverie. Muddled by self deprecation, labor and lager—somehow I persevere. I needed this play today. ( )