Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Idleness, defiance

Somewhere (where? I don't remember, and my internet searches have not been successful; perhaps in his diaries?), Franz Kafka wrote that it is only our moments of idleness that count.

That crossed my mind when I started re-reading Mark Rowlands's The Philosopher and the Wolf and noticed the clear statement of the book's thesis that appears at the end of the acknowledgments: "... it is only our defiance that redeems us."

When I first read the book, I even read the acknowledgments, but the thesis did not jump out at me—perhaps because it is only the whole book that makes it seem like a general statement, and not Rowlands's own peculiar take on things.

But which is it that redeems us: idleness or defiance?

3 comments:

mrjumbo said...

Passive aggression? Where's Waldo?

Dr. M. L. Grim said...

I believe that whoever finds us can redeem us. We're worth about 15¢.

Andrew Shields said...

Hey, the deposit on me was 25 cents!