[lit-ideas] Re: Review of Byung-Chul Han's THE AGONY OF EROS

From: "Donal McEvoy" <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> (Redacted sender "donalmcevoyuk" for DMARC)
To: "lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 9 Aug 2017 06:22:22 +0000 (UTC)

Markatos concludes, “Donning the sword and shield of philosophy may help us
to confront life’s challenges, but only by loosening our armor can we open
ourselves up to love in the first place.”>

This is the kind of sweeping statement that seeks to sweep the reader along.
Compare the following for sweep:
"Donning the socks and vest of philosophy may help us to confront life's
challenges, but only by loosening our underpants can we open ourselves up to
love in the first place."
DL

      From: Lawrence Helm <lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: T Fjeld <t.fjeld1@xxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, 9 August 2017, 1:50
Subject: [lit-ideas] Review of Byung-Chul Han's THE AGONY OF EROS

A few days ago
Torgeir Fjeld introduced us to the South Korean Norwegian Brynjulf Jung Tjønn.
In the current issue (August 14, 2017) of the Weekly Standard, we can make the
acquaintance of the South Korean German Byung-Chul Han.  As we might expect,
the Korean German has not given us another novel.  He has given us a work of
philosophy, The Agony of Eros.    The review of The Agony of Eros was written
by Tim Markatos.  He quotes from another publication by MIT press the comment
that Byung-Chul Han is “one of the most widely read philosophers in Europe
today.”  And then wonders “who it is who’s reading Han – serious philosophers?
University students?  Young urban professionals attempting to cultivate an air
of erudition.”    Markatos writes, “Han relies on highly specific terminology,
but his writing is not impenetrable.  Central to his philosophy is a concept of
the Other, which he, following Levinas and Buber, defines as that which is
necessarily outside of the realm of the self.  Relatedly, eros is the force
that brings us outside to make experience of the Other possible.  A threat to
eros is therefore a threat to relational love, and Han sees no greater
oppositional force arising to challenge the power of eros than depression.
Some of Han’s most scintillating thinking happens around this topic.  He finds
the roots of modern depression in narcissism, the ‘overwrought, pathologically
distorted self-reference’ that flourished in cultures that valorize personal
achievement and consequently flatten out our relationships by changing how we
think about other people; as mere sources of validation at best, objects to
compare ourselves to at worst.”  Markatos moving on to criticism writes, “Most
readers probably will not find much solace in his concluding exhortation to
redirect our aimless erotic longings toward philosophy.”   For Markatos, he
reverts to literature recalling an “astonishingly beautiful and astonishingly
simplistic” passage from E. M. Forster’s 1910 novel Howards End:  “Looking back
on the past six months, Margaret realized the chaotic nature of our daily life,
and its difference from the orderly sequence that has been fabricated by
historians.  Actual life is full of false clues and signposts that lead
nowhere.  With infinite effort we nerve ourselves for a crisis that never
comes. . . . [O]ur national morality . . . assumes that preparation against
danger is itself a good, and that men, like nations, are the better for
staggering through life fully armed. . . .  Life is indeed dangerous, but not
in the way morality would have us believe.  It is indeed unmanageable, but the
essence of it is not a battle.  It is unmanageable because it is a romance, and
its essence is romantic beauty.”  Markatos concludes,  “Donning the sword and
shield of philosophy may help us to confront life’s challenges, but only by
loosening our armor can we open ourselves up to love in the first place.”
Lawrence

References:
- [lit-ideas] Review of Byung-Chul Han's THE AGONY OF EROS
  - From: Lawrence Helm

[lit-ideas] Re: Review of Byung-Chul Han's THE AGONY OF EROS

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