{"product_id":"a-brief-eternity-the-philosophy-of-longevity-hardback-9781509544325","title":"A Brief Eternity; The Philosophy of Longevity (Hardback) 9781509544325","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eA Brief Eternity\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cfont size=\"5\"\u003eThe Philosophy of Longevity\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003ePascal Bruckner (Author), Steven Rendall (Translated by), Lisa Neal (Translated by)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9781509544325, Polity Press\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eHardback, published 27 November 2020\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e180 pages\u003cbr\u003e22.1 x 14 x 2.5 cm, 0.431 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e‘In this excellent essay Pascal Bruckner does not limit himself to exploring the multiple existential questions raised by the recent lengthening of human life or to showing how, in the course of modernity, the third age has become “the philosophical age par excellence”: he constantly and rightly emphasizes the ambiguities, equivocations and ambivalences of this new situation.’\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eLe Monde\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘A Brief Eternity is an ode to desire, to the passion for life, to the warm glow of human discoveries, immense or small.’\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eL’Express\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e \"Human beings have invented a new epoch in their lives: Indian summer, as Pascal Brucker calls it in his thoughtful meditation on life after 60.  No longer just an anteroom to death or a fantasied Neverland of blissful retirement, it has distinct challenges and novel satisfactions that one appreciates better after reading A Brief Eternity.  Written with verve and a joyful irony, it is a stimulating travelogue for that journey we all hope to make.\" \u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eMark Lilla, Professor of Humanities, Columbia University\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \"Pascal Bruckner’s most personal essay to date, A Brief Eternity deploys the writer’s remarkable erudition and culture to respond to a very recent and important question: how to live our extended 'middle age,' our prolonged 'Indian Summer,' wisely and to the fullest. Steeped in Bruckner’s usual wit, verve, and delight in paradox, A Brief Eternity is also, surprisingly, a bracing reminder of life’s limitations as well as its possibilities in the Age of Covid 19. A very timely book.” \u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eRichard J. Golsan, University Distinguished Professor  Senior Scowcroft Fellow, the Bush School, Texas A \u0026amp; M University\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"Pascal Bruckner is the philosopher of the new, always alert to the moment, always capable of identifying the unexpected turn that modern culture is taking, always two steps ahead of everyone else in describing these things, always deft, always brilliant, sometimes deep. Read any two pages, and you will see it.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePaul Berman, author of \u003ci\u003ePower and the Idealists\u003c\/i\u003e and other books\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eThere is one fundamental thing that has changed in our societies since 1950: life has got longer. Over the last few generations, 20 or 30 years have been added to the duration of our lives. But after the age of 50, human beings experience a kind of suspension: no longer young, not really old, they are, as it were, weightless. It is a reprieve that leaves life open like a swinging door. The increase in life expectancy is a tremendous step forward that upsets everything: relations between generations, patterns of family life, the very meaning of our identity and our destiny. This reprieve is both exciting and frightening. The deadlines are getting shorter, the possibilities are shrinking, but there are still discoveries, surprises and upsetting love affairs. Time has become a paradoxical ally: instead of killing us, it carries us forward. What to do with this ambiguous gift? Is it only a question of living longer or living more intensely? To continue along the same path or to branch out and start again? What about remarriage, a new career? How to avoid the weariness of living, the melancholy of the twilight years, how to get through great joys and great pains? Nourished by both reflections and statistics, drawing on the sources of literature, the arts and history, this book proposes a philosophy of longevity based not on resignation but on resolution. In short, an art of living this life to the full. Is there not a profound joy in being alive at the age when our ancestors already had one foot in the grave? \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis book is dedicated to all those who dream of a new spring in the autumn of life, and want to put off winter as long as they can.\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eIntroduction: The Unfrocked Priests of the Cult of Youth \u003cp\u003eNotes\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePart I The Indian Summer of Life\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e1 Giving Up on Giving Up\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe swinging door\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eCold shower\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWisdom or resignation?\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eNotes\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e2 Staying in the Dynamics of Desire\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eRetreat or disaster?\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe philosophical age\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWhat shall we do with our twenty years (of additional life)?\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eNotes\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePart II Life Always Begun Again\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e3 The Saving Routine\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e“It is enough to be” (Madame de Lafayette)\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe splendor of the trivial\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eHere begins the new life\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe two natures of repetition\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe eternal rebirth\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eSwan song or dawn?\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eNotes\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e4 The Interweaving of Time\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eLive as if you were to die at any moment?\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe old boudoir of the past\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIt’s always the first time\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eBecome like children again?\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eOur phantom selves\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eNotes\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePart III Late Love Affairs\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e5 Desire Late in Life\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAsymmetries and expiry dates\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe yoke of concupiscence\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIndecent requests\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eNotes\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e6 Eros and Agape in the Shadow of Thanatos\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eDevotees of the twilight\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe tragedy of the last love\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe chaste, the tender and the voluptuous\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eNotes\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePart IV Fulfill Oneself or Forget Oneself?\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e7 No More, Too Late, Still!\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eLost opportunities\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe round of regrets\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eKairos, the god of timeliness\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eOn the blank page of your future lives\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eNotes\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e8 Make a Success of One’s Life, and Then What?\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eI am I, alas\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe three faces of freedom\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eA door opening on the unknown\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eSucceed, but not entirely\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eNot everything is possible\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eNotes\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePart V What Does Not Die in Us\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e9 Death, Where is Thy Victory?\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eMonsieur Seguin’s Goat\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eEternity in love with time\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe luck to die someday?\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e“Love what will never be seen twice”?\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe martyrs of endurance\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe zombie in us\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eNotes\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e10 The Immortality of Mortals\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWhat do bodily ills teach us?\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe hierarchy of pains\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003ePoor consolations\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eJust a moment, Mr Executioner\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eEternity is here and now\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eNotes\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eConclusion: Love, Celebrate, Serve\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eSubject Areas: Philosophy [\u003ca title=\"See our other books on Philosophy\" href=\"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/search?q=%22Philosophy%20%5BHP%5D%22\"\u003eHP\u003c\/a\u003e]\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"Polity","offers":[{"title":"Brand 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