Facing the irreversible. Three philosophical études

Abstract

This article takes the form of three etudes and concerns artistic struggles with the experience of threat caused by irreversible change and destruction. In the first etude, the area of this experience is the International Chopin Piano Competition which took place in 2021 with a year's delay due to the pandemic. Despite the rivalry, comparable to the Greek agon, the young pianists experienced many uplifting moments which translated into a high aesthetic value of their performances.

The pandemic also had a creative impact on the character of the second etude, the author of a book about paintings that are, in various aspects, related to the experience of threat and the specter of death. Painter Christopher Neve took advantage of the pandemic isolation to study the works of his masters. His book Immortal Thoughts (2023) combines the uncertainty of tomorrow in the times of Covid-19 with a journey to the times of Rembrandt, Cezanne and Michelangelo.

The third etude abandons the topic of the coronavirus threat and presents the prose of Marguerite Duras, in which literary criticism sees a trace of an "incurable wound". Catherine Malabou's philosophical interpretation of Duras's writing in her work Ontology of the Accident is also criticized.