Re: Despair Redux


Subject: Re: Despair Redux
From: David Welch (welchfam@GTE.NET)
Date: Mon Nov 15 1999 - 01:04:55 EST


It is no accident (as the Marxists used to say) that my copy of TMG is
right beside my copy of SK's _Sickness Unto Death_. Unfortunately, I
cannot locate the passage quoted in the epigraph in TMG. However, the
following passage might shed some light:

'[The ordinary view of despair] assumes that every man must know by
himself better than anyone else whether he is in despair or not. So
whoever says that he is in despair is regarded as being in despair, but
whoever thinks he is not in despair is not so regarded. Consequently
despair becomes a rather rare phenomenon, whereas in fact it is quite
universal. It is not a rare exception that one is in despair; no, the
rare, the very rare exception is that one is not in despair.' (_The
Sickness Unto Death_, Part I, Section II)

As the saying goes, 'We don't know what we don't know.' And in the case
of despair, what we don't know consumes us from within. (Despair is the
inward worm of original sin.) Yet the cognitive act of knowing our
despair can be (but will not necessarily be) a prelude to the religious
act of self-surrender to the consuming fire of divine grace. Without
openness to grace, knowledge of despair is the beginning of cynicism and
nihilism.

This also raises a question about narrative point of view. Is it
correct say that in _The Last Gentleman_ the narrator knows that Will
Barrett is in despair, whereas in TMG the narrator knows no such thing
about Binx Bolling?

Dave Welch

Marcus Smith wrote:

> I liked the comments about the SK epigraph in The Moviegoer, but have
> a
> few additional questions.
>
> First, has anyone checked the context of the quote in The Sickness
> Unto
> Death? How does SK get to this assertion?
>
> Second, the claim ("the specific character of despair is precisely
> this: it is unaware of being despair") is a rhetorical box of the
> "double
> bind" variety. If I say, well, yes, I am aware of my despair--but on
> a
> cool fall afternoon with a potroast in the oven, well, my despair is
> tolerable--then I open myself to the charge that I really don't
> understand
> "despair."
>
> Third, and related to my second point: what is the precise difference
>
> between despair and depression? Is despair a form of deep
> depression? Or
> is despair cognitive and depression emotional?
>
> Finally, I wonder if anyone wants to reopen a discussion we had a
> couple
> of years ago about the connection of depression/despair and
> chemicals? Are the anti-depressants (Prozac and its now numerous
> offspring) also anti-despairants?
>
> Marcus Smith
> Department of English
> Loyola University
> New Orleans, Louisiana 70118
> Office: 504-865-2481; Fax 504-866-1966



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