From Andrea Cetrulo’s course at The New Centre, “The Unique: Individualism, Egoism, Anarchy.”
Session 1: Egoism
- Max Stirner, The Ego and Its Own, 1844
- Jacob Blumenfeld, All Things Are Nothing to Me, 2018
Session 2: Retreat
- J.K. Huysmans, À Rebours, 1884
- J.K. Huysmans, Hues of Red,
Session 3: Aloneness
- Jason Bahbak Mohaghegh, “Monomania (Aloneness),” Omnicide, 2019
- Michel Serres, “Tables,” The Five Senses, 2008
Session 4: Margins
- Catherine Crouch, Slaves of the Saints, 2011
- Nicholaj de Mattos Frisvold, Pomba Gira and the Quimbanda of Mbumba Nzila, 2011
Course Outline
“This Seminar will delve into philosophies of anarchism and individualism that transcend or depart from the political and escape both identitarianism and collectivism. What does being individualistic, egoistic, and anarchic mean beyond common parlance? We will explore the existential autonomy of the anarch living outside of society and of social conformism through Max Stirner’s ‘The Unique‘; the silent wine drinker of Michel Serres; the recluse aesthetes imagined by Decadent writers J.K Huysmans and Baudelaire; and the Brazilian witch Pomba Gira. Individualism, from these vantage points can be understood not only as a misadventure in fanciful delights but as a necessary part of the process of self-extraction. We will also unveil how only in caring for ourselves can we begin to care for each other as singular equals and not as generic representatives of groups, classes, identities, and states.”