The Fate of Desire

· State University of New York Press
Ebook
258
Pages
Eligible
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About this ebook

The Fate of Desire examines the problems of living in a decentered world. Assuming that the poststructuralist declaration of the end of man is an essential aspect of our current ways of thinking, the book focuses on the positive values inherent in this shift. In substituting multiplicity and fields of play for identity and hierarchy, and in distinguishing between desire as fullness and desire as lack, Hans argues for a vision of existence that is based on the difficulties Nietzsche posited as an inevitable part of fully affirming the rich but tragic nature of life. These reconceptions of the human scene redefine self-discipline in terms of understanding and loving one's fate.

Instead of providing yet one more critique of the flawed values through which the Western world has constituted itself, The Fate of Desire takes up the task of weighing the things of the world anew, revaluing them in terms of our present understanding of our positions in the world. Hans suggests that if we are fated to be driven by desire, and if we are led to accept the ways in which our desire manifests itself according to our own individual fates, there is still every reason to believe that humans can find a productive way of understanding and fully occupying their place in the world.

About the author

James S. Hans is Professor of English at Wake Forest University. He is the author of The Value(s) of Literature also published by SUNY Press; The Play of the World; Imitation and the Image of Man; and The Question of Value: Thinking through Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Freud.

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