Re: Moviegoer and despair


Subject: Re: Moviegoer and despair
From: R. Jeffrey Grace (rjgrace@POBOX.COM)
Date: Thu Nov 11 1999 - 00:04:22 EST


Hello Rhonda, and everyone else...

I'll toss my two cents worth in by saying that as far as I can see, SK
identified "dread" as that which we feel when we realize that we cannot
attain what we really want in the aesthetic realm. If we, after having
felt this dread, still defy the move to the ethical realm, where what we
really desire can be found, then we will eventually lapse into despair.

Interestingly enough, to me anyway, SK identifies dread as the prelude to
sin or salvation, to use some terms that may or may not have some meaning
still. This would lead one to welcome dread, for by it we enter into that
state that lets us see we must, or rather can, choose life or despair.

(Sidenote: I've been on the list for a few years and am only now
de-lurking) ;>

Pax...

At 03:58 PM 11/10/99 -0800, Rhonda McDonnell wrote:
>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
>
>______________________________________________________
>Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

-------
        R. Jeffrey Grace
        rjgrace@pobox.com
        http://www.pobox.com/~rjgrace



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