Oscar Zarate

I like the 'Introducing' series, they really do make complex theoretical literature accessible. This one was especially quick to read and clearly explained. Indeed, in comparison to Lacan's convolutions Freud seems positively staid. Of course, Freud's work has filtered into the mainstream far more thoroughly, so his terminology seems much more familiar than Lacan's. This book provides a useful explanation for what Freud actually meant, though, as the vague understanding I'd gained from show more popular culture was incoherent. It's funny how many of Freud's terms have entered popular speech, really. Someone being 'anal' about something, a Freudian slip (apparently his term was 'parapraxis'), and the Oedipus complex occur in conversation with relative frequency.

Actually, it's interesting to compare Freud's current reputation to his actual work. He often seems to be dismissed these days as a sex-obsessed crank, but he pioneered the 'talking cure' approach to treating mental disorders and this continues to thrive. It is his emphasis on sexuality as the motivation behind nearly all behaviour that has been dismissed. I didn't previously realise, also, that he was moved the concept of 'hysteria' away from being exclusively female and wrote about how femininity and masculinity are social constructions rather than absolutes.

As with every other bit of psychoanalytic theory I've read, I just can't believe that there is a single universal model for human development and behaviour. Freud's may apply in some cases, but his emphasis on the Oedipus complex and infantile sexuality doesn't convince me. I rather like his model of the id, ego, and super-ego, though, as long as the impulses and desires within the model aren't all assumed to be sexual. Likewise, 'libido' is a tricky concept. As far as I can tell, Freud identifies it almost exclusively with sexuality, whereas I think Lacan did so only partially (distinguishing a 'sexual libido'). Personally, I think Lacan's definition is more helpful, although his theories are bewilderingly complicated.

I also wondered whilst reading this to what extent Freud thought the purpose of psychoanalysis was to achieve sort of ideal, balanced personality. Labelling fetishists, for example, as neurotics implies that they should identify the root of that behaviour and stop doing it. You could also argue, though, that if their neurosis isn't hurting anyone and doesn't upset them, there is no need. Psychoanalytic theory seems to have been taken up in the sphere of political theory, at least in the bit of Žižek that I've managed to read. That makes me think of psychoanalysis as a potential tool for persuasion, or simply to reduce heterogeneity. Rather than speculating vaguely, however, I should just read more Žižek. After all, the reason I've been working my way through several of the 'Introducing' series is that they provide helpful stepping stones towards reading and understanding other books. They are useful enablers. show less

This is surprisingly good, surprisingly so because it is a short graphic rather than lengthy text-based description of one of the most difficult 'schools' of Western philosophy which I am reluctant to label 'existentialism' following Appignanesi's own scepticism about the term.

Let's start by saying that it is not really introductory at all. If you want a cogent introduction I would start with one of the many other general textual introductions - I began with Mary Warnock's many years ago but show more Appignanensi has delivered one of his own quite recently.

Appignanesi compromises little in his limited space in trying to reach deep into the thought of the 'existentialists'. Many readers are going to find it very obscure and difficult without a grounding in the history and ideas on which the text is based - but I think you might like to persevere.

If you have read already in the subject, he has insights that make the difficulty worthwhile. What I like is his avoidance of the tum-ti-tum standard narrative that takes us from Kierkegaard and Nietzsche via Dostoevesky through Heidegger to Sartre and Camus.

He restores the often forgotten core of the school, Husserl's phenomenological turn, and then sets the very different yet dialectially challenging Heideggerian and Sartrean world views in the context of the critical business of choice and survival in the second quarter of the twentieth century.

Occasional digressions into the broader literary culture and into the politics of the era are suggestive and apposite. The book is the philosophical equivalent of a haiku - many deep thoughts compressed into surprisingly small space. The images entertain but do not distract.

I would argue that this school of thinkers still provides the greatest challenge to the liberal group-think of our age. The logic of their thinking towards intensive introspection and liberal science (Husserl), Nazism (Heidegger) and Marxism (Sartre) remains thought-provoking.

Attempts to moralise the last two out of their decisions and choices would be seen as futile by any decent 'existentialist'. The silences and refusals to apologise epitomise not the worst but the best of humanity faced with our technologisation and simplistic expectations.

The post-existentialists have contributed important criticisms of the existential turn. Foucault in particular has helped us to understand the nature of power relations and Derrida the role of the text but the turn has been taken too far - there is a cultural evasion here with political effects.

The 'existential' turn is terribly terribly dangerous to modern liberal society. Yet it is true to our relationship with Being. The challenge of this critique has scarcely been explored. The result is that modern liberal society has been taken by surprise as the new populism emerges.

Elite liberalism has been in denial for far too long about that relationship to Being and our personal choices in a world of roles and material things. The panopticon approach, the attempt to create social hegemony, could never succeed against the raw resistance of those who think apart.

Somewhere and somehow radical thought will reappear to take this problem that existence precedes essence and the phenomenological anaysis of our situation and so create the humanism required before transhumanism is possible - and offer a 'poetic' attitude to being in the world.

Personally, poetry bores me. If something needs to be said, let it be said, and, if not, let it be experienced in direct relation to Being. The text is the very source of our alienation. Yet Heidegger's stance suggests that that which is poetic or spiritual links to the human core.

Husserlian 'scientific' investigation of the mind's relationship to itself, Sartrean concern with our performance in the world and Heideggerian investigation of our relationship to Being provide (in this book) the start of an inquiry into a sufficient rebellion to preserve us against new intelligences.

We are in the midst of a revolution in which the post-moderns and the academics appear increasingly surplus to requirements much as monks became in the age of printing. A philosophy to cope with this exists already in the formative work of this school if only we knew it.

A sound if difficult and challenging guide to a difficult and challenging way of thinking. Grasp it correctly and you will never be the same. Its assertion of mind against 'science' is life-affirming, The reading list at the back, though not all there is to say on the matter, will be useful. show less

A primeira leitura completa do ano não poderia ser mais excepcional e prazerosa. Mantendo a tradição de fazer uma 'Lista da Vergonha' - ao mesmo tempo em que passo alguma outra leitura na frente e leio antes sem sequer de marcar aqui - terminei 'A vida Secreta de Londres', com pequenos contos e HQs curtas sobre essa cidade tão incrível onde tive o prazer de viver em 2015.
O livro reúne um séries de notáveis quadrinhistas/escritores narrando histórias que revelam o lado obscuro da show more cidade. Não vou detalhar aqui um a um - cuja média achei muito boa - daí a dificuldade de destacar favoritos, uma vez que acho que todos são destacáveis,a começar pelo prefácio de Rogério de Campos que já introduz o leitor em um universo novo para a maioria (psicogeografia) e indica os livros incríveis da coleção 'Baderna' (https://veneta.com.br/produto-tag/colecao-baderna/) meu tipo de doutrinação anarco-punk favorita que a escola nunca me deu, infelizmente.
O livro me arremessou de volta à Londres que conheci um pouco (sem o elemento obscuro), passando por seus lugares especiais e seus segredos. Como Londres é enorme e quase tão velha como a morte, impossível conhecer e saber tudo, por isso esse tempo em que passei lendo sobre as sombras da cidade me impactou bastante, talvez por memória afetiva, embora de um modo diferente do que os primeiros 2 encadernados de 'The Wicked The Divine' que li quando ainda vivia na cidade e que tinham uma temática diferente.
Fico imaginando como seria fazer uma versão com histórias obscuras das cidades brasileiras, com exceção talvez ao DF, local que nunca teve uma única história que não fosse obscura.
Recomendo a ótima leitura e Feliz Ano Novo. Para quem está em Londres. show less

A Small Killing surprised me. I thought I had this thing figured out about halfway through the book, and lo and behold, the end adds whole new levels. Alan Moore called this a “deeply personal” story. If you are looking for people in tights, conspiracies, and social commentary, this isn’t the book for you. There are no explosions. It is a relatively quiet book. The story is built around introspection and is one of the more literary graphic novels I’ve read. Younger readers tend to show more translate that to mean “boring,” but it was nice to read a graphic novel that didn’t rely on pure action to drive the story.

The story follows ad-man Timothy Hole (pronounced “Holly”) as he returns to his childhood home in midland England. He is working on an ad for a huge account selling a diet soda in Cold War-era Russia, but he is struggling. Tim’s mind wanders through his past and the mistakes he has made. He once wanted to be an artist, but he is now middle-aged and a part of the system he once hated. On top of everything else, he thinks a young boy is following him, and perhaps, trying to kill him.

There is a disorienting tension that builds throughout the book, and parts of Tim’s inner dialogue are in a stream-of-consciousness style, which adds to the sense that Tim is losing his mind. Oscar Zarate’s dream-like artwork also adds to the overall tension. The other characters often have a Rocky Horror Picture Show look to them. Several panels depict passersby with dummy heads with no faces. In scenes with large crowds, I was reminded of the scene in Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas where the people at the bar turn into blood drinking lizards. And this all hinges on Tim’s inner crisis.

As Tim gets closer to his childhood home, his memories also return to his childhood. Overall, the book is about the loss of innocence and the compromises we make. And I’m sure this will sound politically incorrect, but I think the reader would have to be at least thirty-years-old to really feel what Moore is getting at with Timothy Hole. Don’t get me wrong. It’s not an intellectually difficult concept. Some of his other books are much more complex. I’m sure younger readers will understand the concept, but they might shrug their shoulders and say, “So what.” People with life experience- some regrets, some guilt, some distance- would not say, “So what.” show less