{"product_id":"on-the-verge-of-nothing-gary-j-shipley-9781735643830","title":"On the Verge of Nothing: Pessimism's Impossible Beyond","description":"Gary Shipley's \u003ci\u003eOn the Verge of Nothing\u003c\/i\u003e moves according to a patient logic, asking us to consider what follows when we \u003ci\u003ebegin\u003c\/i\u003e from pessimism, rather than arriving at it. Through Shipley's ciphers - Nietzsche, Pessoa, Lispector, contemporary performance art - pessimism is illuminated as at once unliveable and unconsolable, and yet unavoidable. Reading \u003ci\u003eOn the Verge of Nothing\u003c\/i\u003e, the primordial philosophical question of \"how to live\" now takes on contours that are colder, more detached, and yet, somehow, deeply engaged. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Eugene Thacker, author of \u003ci\u003eInfinite Resignation\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBeginning insistently with the end of thought, this panegyric of the pointless offers a withering post-pessimistic ethics and aesthetics of diversionary tactics for life in the void. Territories traversed include dreams and delusions, the limits and purpose of self-consciousness, human animality, and the paradox of feeling-thinking. Gary J Shipley's lucid, often pitiless diagnoses; rigorous, informed, and tight arguments; bons mots and essential apercus - larded with a rich compost of quotation (Pessoa, Lispector, Cioran, Kafka, etc.) - pursue a relentless thrashing of thought, sketching both a Bartlett's and a Baedeker of our inevitable doom. These essays, aphorisms, fragments, and quotations have been shored not against but amidst ruin. Experimental, exploratory soundings and performances, a fantasia for the end of the world: this word horde is an essential drug for addicts of the impossible. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Stuart Kendall, author of \u003ci\u003eGeorges Bataille\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003ePessimism is the tenor of our times, even if it is rarely fully embraced. Gary J. Shipley's important book not only embraces pessimism, it offers a way to make life liveable not in the modality of morose resignation, but with enthusiasm. This is an achievement, even for pessimists who regard all achievement as ultimately futile. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Scott Wilson, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Order of Joy\u003c\/i\u003e (from the Foreword)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Gary J. Shipley\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1735643831\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781735643830\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Nine-Banded Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 10\/01\/2021\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 204\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.53lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.50h x 5.50w x 0.47d","brand":"Gary J. Shipley","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48440688705791,"sku":"9781735643830","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_b7f90e64-6351-4db7-8307-f6a77a6c9d40.jpg?v=1777184147","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/on-the-verge-of-nothing-gary-j-shipley-9781735643830","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}