Description
Book SynopsisWhile existentialism has long been associated with Parisian Left Bank philosophers sipping cocktails in smoke-filled cafés, or with a brooding, angst-filled outlook on life, Gosetti-Ferencei shows how vital and heterogeneous the movement really was.In this concise, accessible book, Gosetti-Ferencei offers a new vision of existentialism. As she lucidly demonstrates, existentialism is a rich and diverse philosophy that encourages meaningful engagement with the world around us, offering a host of fascinating concepts that pertain to life as we experience it. The movement was as heterogeneous as it is now misunderstood, influenced by jazz music, involving diverse thinkers from around the world, challenging received ideas about the meaning of human existence. Part of the difficulty in defining existentialism is that it was never a unified philosophy, but came to identify a set of shared concerns about the meaning and possibility of human freedom, as it may be expressed in authentic choices, actions, and projects. Existentialists all explored how, in the absence of traditional reassurances about the meaning of life, we may transcend our present circumstances, and give our situation new meaning. With existentialism, concrete, lived experience of the single individual emerged from the shadow of abstract systems and long-defended traditions, and became subject-matter in its own right for philosophical inquiry. Far from solipsistic, Gosetti-Ferencei shows that existentialist attention to the human self can be intertwined with ways of conceiving the world, our being with others, the earth, and the encompassing concept of being. Fully appreciating what existentialism has to offer requires recognizing the rich diversity of its prospects, which involve not only anxiety, absurdity, awareness of death and the loss of religious meaning, but also hope, the striving for happiness, and a sense of the transcendent. On Being and Becoming unpacks this philosophical movement''s insights, and reveals how its core ideas promote creative responses to the question of life''s meaning.
Trade ReviewOn Being and Becoming not only offers help to those wanting to understand what existentialism was: it also makes a valuable contribution to showing what existentialism could mean for us today. * MLN *
In this deceptively easy to read book, Jennifer Gosetti-Ferencei packs three treatises in one: a smart introduction to continental philosophy, a brisk guide for living well and not dying stupid in an age of selfie-narcissism, and a new bridge between European and American culture linking Sartre with Kerouac, Rilke with Frost, de Beauvoir with Wright, Camus with Ellison, Heidegger with Du Bois, all asking the key question 'Why am I here?' The answer? You'll find it yourself in these pages. * Jean-Michel Rabaté, University of Pennsylvania, American Academy of Arts and Sciences *
On Being and Becoming is a timely book, as existentialism is an evocative response to the deep crises challenging our mortal and vulnerable existence. This book explores the existentialist answer to create our own meaning through our individual choices, not just in solitude but in engaged action seeking to transform the social world. The broad existential movement is sympathetically and accurately portrayed by Gosetti-Ferencei. This book is richly packed with insights and fluidly written for a general audience. It is not just a work of academic philosophy--discussing, among others, Martin Heidegger, Gabriel Marcel, Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone Beauvoir, Albert Camus, and Frantz Fanon--but it also documents the influence of existentialism on African-American thinkers, such as W.E.B. DuBois, Ralph Ellison, and Richard Wright. * Dermot Moran, Boston College *
This small book weaves together a generous discussion of the history of philosophy and an erudite presentation of key themes of existentialism....Gosetti-Ferencei erases naïve formulations of existentialist themes and replaces them with rigorous, sometimes uplifting, accounts of freedom, responsibility, self-creation, and the inescapability of death. This work serves as both an excellent introduction to existentialist thought and a provocative read for those familiar with the works of such figures as Simone de Beauvoir, Albert Camus, Fyodor Dostoevsky, W. E. B. Du Bois, Ralph Ellison, Martin Heidegger, Franz Kafka, Søren Kierkegaard, Gabriel Marcel, Friedrich Nietzsche, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Richard Wright...Highly recommended. * Choice *
Table of ContentsPart I: Encountering Existentialism Prologue Chapter 1:Existentialism in Style and Substance Part II: Existentialism: from Antiquity to Modern Europe Chapter 2. The Rise of Existentialism: A Philosophy for Human Existence Chapter 3. Historical Roots of Existentialism Chapter 4. Romantic Upheavals, Modern Movements Chapter 5. Literature and Art of Existentialism: the 20th Century Part III. Existentialism in Living Dimensions Chapter 6. Self Chapter 7. Others Chapter 8. World Chapter 9. Earth Chapter 10. Being Part IV. Living Existentialism 11. Existentialist Lives: Imitation, Inspiration, and Authenticity 12. Seeking and Taking (and Giving) Advice 13. Being in the Crowd: Anonymity and Individuality in Modern Life 14. Into One's Own, or on 'Finding' Oneself 15. I Selfie, Therefore I Am: On Self-Imaging Culture 16. Being and Waiting (Tables), or The Roles We Play 17. Seizing the Day: On the Present and Presence 18. Love in the Time of Existentialism 19. Existential Suffering, Happiness and Hope 20. Life as a Work of Art: an Existential Need for Creativity Bibliography
