Infinite Resignation: On Pessimism - Softcover

Eugene Thacker

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1912248190 ISBN 13: 9781912248193

Publisher: Repeater, 2018

Synopsis

''Scholarly advice for dark times.''
-- The New Yorker

''Provides a metric ton of misery and a lot of company.''
-- The New York Times

''Teeming with aphorisms and hilarious one-liners... probably philosophy's only beach read.''
-- Vice

Dark times lie around us and ahead of us, and what better way to survive the coming Apocolypse than by immersing yourself in some of the greatest thinkers on pessimism, brought together with his own thoughts on the subject by Eugene Thacker, author of the contemporary classic, In the Dust of This Planet.

Comprised of aphorisms, fragments, and observations both philosophical and personal, Thacker's new book traces the contours of pessimism, caught as it often is between a philosophical position and a bad attitude. Reflecting on the universe's ''looming abyss of indifference,'' Thacker explores the pessimism of a range of philosophers, from the well-known (Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, Camus), to the lesser-known (E.M. Cioran, Lev Shestov, Miguel de Unamuno). Readers will find food for thought in Thacker's handling of a range of themes in Christianity and Buddhism, as well as his engagement with literary figures (from Dostoevsky to Thomas Bernhard, Osamu Dazai, and Fernando Pessoa), whose pessimism about the world both inspires and depresses Thacker. By turns melancholic, misanthropic, and darkly funny, (''Birth is a metaphysical injury - healing takes time - the span of one's life''), many will find Infinite Resignation a welcome antidote to the exuberant imbecility of our times.

About this title

About the Author

Eugene Thacker is the author of several books, including In the Dust of This Planet. He is Professor at The New School in New York City.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

A Sort of Preface. By definition, there can be no hope for a book like this – its very existence is dubious. If all is for naught, then why bother writing it down? Caught in a  vicious circle, ensnared in the logical absurdities of awkward self-awareness.

It seems there are one of two options: either speak to this situation, or remain silent. The writer’s failure is that they know they should choose the latter, but cannot help attempting the former. Writers (and readers...when there are readers...) console themselves by naming this failure: an apology, a confession, a testimony, a treatise, a history, a biography, a life. But the continual accumulation of that- which-cannot-be-put-into-words always points back to this one basic realization – that, when it comes to human beings, silence is the most adequate form of expression.

There are, then, two paths. Ultimately writers dream of taking neither path, leaving all paths for the forest. But it’s just a dream.

Edition details

• Publisher: Repeater
• Publication date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1912248190
• ISBN 13: 9781912248193
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 400