The bias of the article is strong, and I appreciate that. I actually despise performative unbiased reviews.
While that bias initially frustrated me, once again comparing some contemporary thing a writer disagrees with to the rise of the Nazis, the underlying topic is actually in line with a lot of my own recent thinking.
I think a disease of the modern mind is the belief in and desire for finality. A belief in the finality of contemporary models of physics, the finality of political systems, the finality of literature analysis. And seeing authoritarianism as an expression of this desire for finality is an interesting take.
It reminds me of "Man's search for meaning" where Frankl reflects on the the meaning of facing suffering with dignity. Or Camus' story of Sisyphus where a man is forced to perform a pointless repetitive task with no conclusion or meaning, and yet Camus argues we must see Sisyphus as happy.
It is interesting how we associate this by comparing it to emotions. Anxiety for Kierkegaard, Nausea for Sartre, Suffering for Frankl (and Buddha) and apparently Melancholy for Sebald. It is also interesting to see the different approaches each have for dealing with it.
While that bias initially frustrated me, once again comparing some contemporary thing a writer disagrees with to the rise of the Nazis, the underlying topic is actually in line with a lot of my own recent thinking.
I think a disease of the modern mind is the belief in and desire for finality. A belief in the finality of contemporary models of physics, the finality of political systems, the finality of literature analysis. And seeing authoritarianism as an expression of this desire for finality is an interesting take.
It reminds me of "Man's search for meaning" where Frankl reflects on the the meaning of facing suffering with dignity. Or Camus' story of Sisyphus where a man is forced to perform a pointless repetitive task with no conclusion or meaning, and yet Camus argues we must see Sisyphus as happy.
It is interesting how we associate this by comparing it to emotions. Anxiety for Kierkegaard, Nausea for Sartre, Suffering for Frankl (and Buddha) and apparently Melancholy for Sebald. It is also interesting to see the different approaches each have for dealing with it.