A philosophical guide to passengerhood, with reflections on time,
space, existence, boredom, our sense of self, and our sense of the
senses. While there are entire bookstore sections—and even entire
bookstores—devoted to travel, there have been few books on the
universal experience of being a passenger. With this book, philosopher
Michael Marder fills the gap, offering a philosophical guide to
passengerhood. He takes readers from ticketing and preboarding
(preface and introduction) through a series of stops and detours
(reflections on topics including time, space, existence, boredom, our
sense of self, and our sense of the senses) to destination and
disembarking (conclusion). Marder finds that the experience of
passengers in the twenty-first century is experience itself,
stretching well beyond railroad tracks and airplane flight patterns.
On his journey through passengerhood, he considers, among many other
things, passenger togetherness, which goes hand in hand with passenger
loneliness; flyover country and the idea of placeness; and Descartes
in an airplane seat. He tells us that the word metaphor means
transport in Greek and discusses the gray area between literalness and
metaphoricity; explains the connection between reading and riding; and
ponders the difference between destination and destiny. Finally, a
Beckettian disembarking: you might not be able to disembark, yet you
must disembark. After the voyage in the world ends, the journey of
understanding begins.
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Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9780262369718
Publisert
2021
Utgiver
Random House Publishing Services
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter