Subject: Re: Moviegoer and despair
From: Richard Warren (RWarren@BCCB.COM)
Date: Wed Nov 10 1999 - 19:35:55 EST
I have understood Kierkegaard to have meant that those who lead superficial lives are those who are most at risk. Dancing merrily along in the aesthetic sphere, happy with your little sports car and your latest secretary, is a long way from coming to oneself and leading an authentic life. I wonder if the Hebrew Bible isn't making the same point when it says that in the fear (or awe) of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
>>> Rhonda McDonnell <rhonda_mcdonnell@HOTMAIL.COM> 11/10/99 05:58PM >>>
I'm re-reading MOVIEGOER for the first time in years, and had what I'd guess
is an old question for some of you veterans. When considering the
Kierkegaard epigraph, "the specific character of despair is precisely this:
it is unaware of being despair," in terms of Binx (and myself perhaps), I
can't help but wonder how you define the feeling you have if you recognize
you are in despair. For example, when Binx realizes that he and all around
him are dead, dead, dead, is that despair? Or does that somehow free him
from the everydayness of despair so that he may embark upon his search?
Once we realize that no matter what time it is, it's four o'clock on a
Wednesday afternoon, does that set us free, or merely make us aware of the
situation we find ourselves in?
Rhonda McDonnell
Arizona State University
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