Hamletics – Shakespeare, Kafka, Beckett

Italian philosopher and leftist Massimo Cacciari examines the relationship between European nihilism and the aporias of action in the present through a dialogue with Shakespeare, Kafka, and Beckett in Hamletics.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 144 pages
Publication date: 02 February 2024
Publisher: Seagull Books London Ltd

One of Italy's most renowned contemporary philosophers and leftists provides a literary-informed perspective on our current political landscape. Throughout the turbulent twentieth century, amidst the clash of titans that defined that era, humanity could still conceive of partisan struggles in which vast masses took sides against one another. By contrast, the new millennium appears to have emerged under the guise of generalized insecurity, which encompasses not only the historical and social situation, but also one's personal psychological predicament, and even our very essence. The Earth's current faltering and the twilight of every convention that might govern it—where roles, images, and languages become confused by a lack of direction and distance—were already powerfully prophesied in Shakespeare's Hamlet and later in the works of Kafka and Beckett. In Hamletics, Massimo Cacciari, one of Italy's foremost philosophers and leftist political figures, establishes a dialogue between these fateful authors, exploring the relationship between European nihilism and the aporias of action in the present.

During the dramatic course of the twentieth century, amid the clash of the titans that marked that era, humanity could still think in terms of partisan struggles in which large masses took sides. The new millennium, by contrast, appears to have opened under the guise of generalized insecurity, which pertains not only to the historical and social situation, or to one's personal psychological predicament, but to our very being. The Earth's current faltering and the twilight of every convention that might govern it—where roles, images, and languages become confused by a lack of direction and distance—were already powerfully prophesied in Shakespeare's Hamlet, and later in the works of Kafka and Beckett.

In Hamletics, Massimo Cacciari, one of Italy's foremost philosophers and leftist political figures, establishes a dialogue between these fateful authors, exploring the relationship between European nihilism and the aporias of action in the present. He argues that while the twentieth century was characterized by partisan struggles, the new millennium has emerged under the guise of generalized insecurity, which encompasses not only the historical and social situation, but also one's personal psychological predicament, and even our very essence.

Cacciari suggests that the new millennium has brought about a shift in the way. In the past, humanity could still think in terms of partisan struggles, where large masses took sides. However, the new millennium has opened under the guise of generalized insecurity, which pertains not only to the historical and social situation, but also to one's personal psychological predicament, and even our very essence.

He argues that the Earth's current faltering and the twilight of every convention that might govern it—where roles, images, and languages become confused by a lack of direction and distance—were already powerfully prophesied in Shakespeare's Hamlet and later in the works of Kafka and Beckett.

In Hamletics, Massimo Cacciari, one of Italy's foremost philosophers and leftist political figures, establishes a dialogue between these fateful authors, exploring the relationship between European nihilism and the aporias of action in the present. He argues that while the twentieth century was characterized by partisan struggles, the new millennium has emerged under the guise of generalized insecurity, which encompasses not only the historical and social situation, but also one's personal psychological predicament, and even our very essence.

Dimension: 9 x 6 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781803092669