A Philosophy of Boredom

by Lars Svendsen, John Irons

Overview

It has been described as a "tame longing without any particular object" by Schopenhauer, "a bestial and indefinable affliction" by Dostoevsky, and "time's invasion of your world system" by Joseph Brodsky, but still very few of us today can explain precisely what boredom is. A Philosophy of Boredom investigates one of the central preoccupations of our age as it probes the nature of boredom, how it originated, how and why it afflicts us, and why we cannot seem to overcome it by any act of will.

Lars Svendsen brings together observations from philosophy, literature, psychology, theology, and popular culture, examining boredom's pre-Romantic manifestations in medieval torpor, philosophical musings on boredom from Pascal to Nietzsche, and modern explorations into alienation and transgression by twentieth-century artists from Beckett to Warhol. A witty and entertaining account of our dullest moments and most maddening days, A Philosophy of Boredom will appeal to anyone curious to know what lies beneath the overwhelming inertia of inactivity.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781861892171
Publisher:	Reaktion Books, Limited
Publication date:	04/15/2005
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	4.75(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Lars Svendsen is professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Bergen, Norway. He is the author of many books.


John Irons has been a translator of Norwegian and many other languages since 1987. He lives in Odense, Denmark.

Table of Contents

Preface
One: The Problem of Boredom
—Boredom as a Philosophical Problem
—Boredom and Modernity
—Boredom and Meaning
—Boredom, Work and Leisure
—Boredom and Death
—Typologies of Boredom
—Boredom and Novelty
Two: Stories of Boredom
—Acedia: Pre-modern Boredom
—From Pascal to Nietzsche
—Romantic Boredom, form William Lovell to American Psycho
—On Boredom, Body, Technology and Transgression: Crash
—Samuel Beckett and the Impossibility of Personal Meaning
—Andy Warhol: Renouncing Personal Meaning
Three: The Phenomenology of Boredom
—On Attunement
—Ontology: The Hermeneutics of Boredom
Four: The Ethics of Boredom
—What is an I?
—Boredom and Human History
—The Experience of Boredom
—Boredom and Maturity
Postscript
References

Editorial Reviews

"An engaging read . . . touches upon many points which indeed are central to anthropological concerns. . . . I highly recommend this book."

Australian Journal of Anthropology - Yasmine Musharbash

"A good, solid practical work of philosophy, in the tradition of Aristotle's Ethics . . . he has a light touch and a playful attitude."

The New Statesman - Tom Hodgkinson

"Lars Svendsen, author of A Philosophy of Boredom, is anything but boring on the subject."

The Daily Telegraph - Harry Mount

"Quite fascinating"-The Times Online

The Times Online - Ben Macintyre

"For a serious work of philosophy, Boredom exhibits a light touch and impressive pop-cultural range. . . . It's not boring."

Village Voice

"A fascinatingly modern essay on ennui and emptiness . . . Svendsen's thesis is so cool that boredom, linked with desire rather than need, suddenly seems like a desirable state of being in an agitated age."

The Times

"Far from boring, this is a highly accessible and entertaining study."

The Age

"When an investigation into boredom is done well, as it is in A Philosophy of Boredom, it is positively gripping."

Times Literary Supplement

"Witty. . . . Unlike Scandinavian philosophers known for sterile prose styles, Svendsen combines droll dismissal of statistical research, incisive readings of boredom art . . . and etymological ponderings of the nuances among boredom. . . . You will not be bored reading him for the first time."

Philadelphia Inquirer - Carlin Romano

"An amusing, learned, and articulate philosophical study of one of humanity's prime afflictions. . . Svendsen has a way with words, and, unlike many writers of philosophy books, is also blessed with a sly wit and a thorough knowledge of popular culture. You would be hard pressed to find a better book to make do with this year than this wonderful little one, which is, somehow, despite the desolation at its core, oddly uplifting."

The Glasgow Herald - Phil Miller

"A fascinatingly modern essay on ennui and emptiness . . . Svendsen's thesis is so cool that boredom, linked with desire rather than need, suddenly seems like a desirable state of being in an agitated age."

The Times