4 December 2012 The most personal book by Zygmunt Bauman
‘Although I like being alone, I hate loneliness. After Janina’s death, I reached the deepest bottom of loneliness (if loneliness has any bottom at all). I reached the place where its bitter settlings and its most pungent and toxic fumes accumulate. Janina’s face is the first picture I see on the desktop when I turn on the computer, so everything that happens after Microsoft Word is opened leads to a dialogue. And the dialogue cancels loneliness,’ writes Zygmunt Bauman in his book To nie jest dziennik (This Is Not A Diary), which was published in November by Wydawnictwo Literackie. In spite of its perverse title, it is a diary covering the period from September 2010 till March 2011. As you may remember, Zygmunt Bauman was a guest of this year’s Conrad Festival.
The author of Nowoczesność i zagłada (Modernity and The Holocaust) began to write when he was struggling with the experience of deep loneliness after the death of his wife. Writing was a form of self-therapeutic conversation for him. For the first time the reader has the opportunity to penetrate so deeply into the world of emotions of the outstanding author and to become familiar with his reflections on himself.
The second important impulse for keeping notes was the addiction that is widespread among intellectualists. ‘I am addicted to writing by nature or as a result of habit... As an addict, I need my own daily dose of drug; otherwise, I will have to face the distress of being cold turkey,’ confesses Bauman.
Bauman writes not only about his private matters. The book contains many observations and reflections inspired by current readings and events, such as the market success of Facebook, the premiere of the Japanese game Love+, the anniversary of the 11th of September 2001 events, reports concerning the uneven distribution of national income in the USA or the novel The Shape of Things to Come by H.G. Wells.
We recommend this book!
