Infinite Resignation

Description

“Scholarly advice for dark times.” —The New Yorker
“Provides a metric ton of misery and a lot of company.” —New York Times
“Probably philosophy’s only beach read.” —Vice

A ‘nihilist’s devotional,’ this collection of aphorisms, fragments, and observations on philosophy and pessimism offer a raw look at the human condition

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, Infinite Resignation 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, Infinite Resignation is a welcome antidote to the exuberant imbecility of our times.“Belongs on the shelf next to the likes of Nietzsche and Schopenhauer . . . Thacker’s voice is quiet, a desperate whisper into the void that is both haunting and heartbreaking.”
—Into the Void

“When life gives us lemons, Thacker refuses to make lemonade. Rather he adds lemon juice to the ink pot, and proceeds to write with an acerbic clarity—and touches of black humor—about the predicament of being human.”
—Dominic Pettman, author of Human Error: Species Being and Media MachinesEugene 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.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.GB

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