Pope Pius XII condemned
Existentialism for its 'terrifying nihilism'.
Anguish, despair, absurdity, nothingness -
these concepts still have a power to scandalise.
Do we find in them the quintessence of Existentialism?
Or has Existentialism's popular appeal eclipsed
its truth from us?
Richard
Appignanesi goes in personal quest of Existentialism
in its original state. He begins with Camus'
question of suicide: 'Must life have a meaning
to be lived?' Is absurdity at the heart of
Existentialism? Or is there a question as
yet unexplored in Sartre's warning that Existentialism
is 'the least scandalous, most technically
austere' of all teachings? The answer is found
in Edmund Husserl's phenomenology, the first
'technically austere' investigation of consciousness,
from which Heidegger, Sartre and others depart.
There are other deviant trails bringing encounters
with Kierkegaard, Hegel, Marx and Nietzsche,
who might or might not connect to Existentialism.
Always there in the background is a history
of dark times - our legacy of Nazism and the
Cold War - that overcasts the search.
This is a book of undergoing Existentialism
in its meaning for our own age of postmodern
crisis.
***
Richard Appignanesi is a novelist, editor
and publisher, and a Research Fellow at King's
College London. He is the originating editor
of the Introducing series and has also written
Postmodernism and Existentialism books in
the series.
Oscar
Zarate is a highly acclaimed graphic artist
who has illustrated many Introducing titles.
His prize-winning graphic novel A Small Killing
is known throughout the world.
