Misinterest
"The term “interest” lacks a precise antonym. In English, we have “disinterested” and “uninteresting,” but we want for a term that denotes robust opposition to interest. The same appears to hold true in every other language (as far as we know). Interest’s missing antonym reflects not merely a widesp...
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| Formaat: | Online |
| Taal: | Engels |
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punctum books
2021
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| Online toegang: | 1005108 |
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| _version_ | 1869528200239906816 |
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| author | Bowker, M.H. |
| author_browse | Bowker, M.H. |
| author_facet | Bowker, M.H. |
| author_sort | Bowker, M.H. |
| collection | Directory of Open Access Books |
| description | "The term “interest” lacks a precise antonym. In English, we have “disinterested” and “uninteresting,” but we want for a term that denotes robust opposition to interest. The same appears to hold true in every other language (as far as we know). Interest’s missing antonym reflects not merely a widespread lexical oversight, but a misrecognition of interest’s complete and exact meaning. More importantly, the idea that interest has no opposite expresses a certain refusal to acknowledge the power of the impulse to extinguish interest, for the self and for others.
Why then do we foreclose interest’s possibility, degrade our (and others’) capacities to experience interest, and destroy interest’s objects? Why do we decline what interest proffers — which includes creative and subjective being, thinking, and relating — in favor of more primitive modes of survival, thoughtlessness, and nonbeing? Why do relationships — with ourselves, with others, with objects — toward which genuine interest draws us seem sometimes, if not often, unbearable?
These questions are difficult. Their answers, even more so. Misinterest: Essays, Pensées, and Dreams attempts to approach them in an honest way, without making them fascinating, mysterious, boring, obscurantist, or fascinatingly mysteriously boringly obscurantist. Outwardly, Misinterest is concerned with dreams and forgetting and Eros and soaring dogs and groups and suicidal suburban teenagers and sex and jury duty and Nazis and fathers and hatred and holy parrots and fundamentalists and plagues and other things that may or may not be interesting. Ultimately, however, it seeks, like Jules Renard, “en restant exact” (in remaining true/real), to shed light on the establishment of misinterest, missingness, and mystery where and when they need not be, and, thus, on the psychic, familial, and political forces that compel us not to be when and where we ought." |
| format | Online |
| id | doab-20.500.12854ir-33914 |
| institution | Directory of Open Access Books |
| language | eng |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publishDateRange | 2021 |
| publishDateSort | 2021 |
| publisher | punctum books |
| publisherStr | punctum books |
| record_format | ojs |
| spelling | doab-20.500.12854ir-339142025-01-23T21:41:59Z Misinterest Bowker, M.H. psychoanalysis hallucinogens sex ethical philosophy literary essays morality dreams thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DN Biography and non-fiction prose::DNL Literary essays thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBC Cultural and media studies::JBCC Cultural studies thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JM Psychology::JMA Psychological theory, systems, schools and viewpoints::JMAF Psychoanalytical and Freudian psychology "The term “interest” lacks a precise antonym. In English, we have “disinterested” and “uninteresting,” but we want for a term that denotes robust opposition to interest. The same appears to hold true in every other language (as far as we know). Interest’s missing antonym reflects not merely a widespread lexical oversight, but a misrecognition of interest’s complete and exact meaning. More importantly, the idea that interest has no opposite expresses a certain refusal to acknowledge the power of the impulse to extinguish interest, for the self and for others. Why then do we foreclose interest’s possibility, degrade our (and others’) capacities to experience interest, and destroy interest’s objects? Why do we decline what interest proffers — which includes creative and subjective being, thinking, and relating — in favor of more primitive modes of survival, thoughtlessness, and nonbeing? Why do relationships — with ourselves, with others, with objects — toward which genuine interest draws us seem sometimes, if not often, unbearable? These questions are difficult. Their answers, even more so. Misinterest: Essays, Pensées, and Dreams attempts to approach them in an honest way, without making them fascinating, mysterious, boring, obscurantist, or fascinatingly mysteriously boringly obscurantist. Outwardly, Misinterest is concerned with dreams and forgetting and Eros and soaring dogs and groups and suicidal suburban teenagers and sex and jury duty and Nazis and fathers and hatred and holy parrots and fundamentalists and plagues and other things that may or may not be interesting. Ultimately, however, it seeks, like Jules Renard, “en restant exact” (in remaining true/real), to shed light on the establishment of misinterest, missingness, and mystery where and when they need not be, and, thus, on the psychic, familial, and political forces that compel us not to be when and where we ought." 2021-02-10T12:58:18Z 2019-06-26 23:55 2020-01-23 14:09:07 2020-04-01T10:16:41Z 2019 book 1005108 OCN: 1117886589 http://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/24994 9781950192304 9781950192298 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/33914 eng open access image/jpeg image/jpeg image/jpeg image/jpeg image/jpeg n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/24994/1/0256.1.00.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/24994/1/0256.1.00.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/24994/1/0256.1.00.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/24994/1/0256.1.00.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/24994/1/0256.1.00.pdf punctum books Dead Letter Office 10.21983/P3.0256.1.00 10.21983/P3.0256.1.00 12970da4-0116-4486-b8be-fc9756703ab1 9781950192304 9781950192298 ScholarLed Dead Letter Office 166 Brooklyn, NY open access |
| spellingShingle | psychoanalysis hallucinogens sex ethical philosophy literary essays morality dreams thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DN Biography and non-fiction prose::DNL Literary essays thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBC Cultural and media studies::JBCC Cultural studies thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JM Psychology::JMA Psychological theory, systems, schools and viewpoints::JMAF Psychoanalytical and Freudian psychology Bowker, M.H. Misinterest |
| title | Misinterest |
| title_full | Misinterest |
| title_fullStr | Misinterest |
| title_full_unstemmed | Misinterest |
| title_short | Misinterest |
| title_sort | misinterest |
| topic | psychoanalysis hallucinogens sex ethical philosophy literary essays morality dreams thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DN Biography and non-fiction prose::DNL Literary essays thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBC Cultural and media studies::JBCC Cultural studies thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JM Psychology::JMA Psychological theory, systems, schools and viewpoints::JMAF Psychoanalytical and Freudian psychology |
| topic_facet | psychoanalysis hallucinogens sex ethical philosophy literary essays morality dreams thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DN Biography and non-fiction prose::DNL Literary essays thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBC Cultural and media studies::JBCC Cultural studies thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JM Psychology::JMA Psychological theory, systems, schools and viewpoints::JMAF Psychoanalytical and Freudian psychology |
| url | 1005108 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT bowkermh misinterest |