Ivan Illich and The Art of Living

Franco La Cecla takes through the intellectual heritage of Illich, a thinker who has questioned the very idea of progress, development and even modernity, anticipating the criticism of total institutions.

The legacy that Illich has left behind is that of a radical and as timely as ever critique of the existing even if it has often been distorted, misrepresented and misused by those who were potentially its enemies. This book represents the only biography of Illich written by someone, like La Cecla, who knew him directly and intimately as a student and a friend. A difficult relationship, surely, that of a disobedient disciple, a counterpart, converser and debater for twenty years, without ever becoming a follower. Through the events of a life that isn't ordinary at all, La Cecla proposes an essential reading of Illich's thought to highlight the extreme importance of systematic doubt and to understand the richness of his contribution in the field of critique of total institutions, of ecological thought, of the new economy, of sexuality...

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