Christopher Hamilton is Reader in Philosophy at King’s College London, UK. He is the author of five previous books, including A Philosophy of Tragedy (2016), as well as articles in ethics, philosophy of religion and aesthetics.

• Chapter 1. Opening: the voice off in philosophy.- Chapter 2. Introduction: Who is speaking and to whom?.- Chapter 3. ‘The god of the city’: Walter Benjamin, enchantment and the material subject.- Chapter 4. ‘An immense expenditure of energy come to nothing’: philosophy, literature and death in Peter Weiss’ Abschied von den Eltern.- Chapter 5. ‘Someone is missing’: Jean-Paul Sartre, comédie and the longing for necessity.- Chapter 6.‘How terrible is the deterioration in myself!’: childhood, middle age and the redemption of a humanist in George Orwell’s ‘Such, Such Were the Joys’.- Chapter 7. ‘Little soft oases’: Edmund Gosse, the hard-driven soul and inconsolability.- Chapter 8. ‘This book should be heavy with things and flesh’: the body, sensation and love of the world in Camus’ Le premier homme.- Chapter 9. Closing (beginning with an abandoned opening).- Chapter 10. Bibliography.- Chapter 11. Acknowledgements./

Christopher Hamilton is Reader in Philosophy at King’s College London, UK. He is the author of five previous books, including A Philosophy of Tragedy (2016), as well as articles in ethics, philosophy of religion and aesthetics.

• Chapter 1. Opening: the voice off in philosophy.- Chapter 2. Introduction: Who is speaking and to whom?.- Chapter 3. ‘The god of the city’: Walter Benjamin, enchantment and the material subject.- Chapter 4. ‘An immense expenditure of energy come to nothing’: philosophy, literature and death in Peter Weiss’ Abschied von den Eltern.- Chapter 5. ‘Someone is missing’: Jean-Paul Sartre, comédie and the longing for necessity.- Chapter 6.‘How terrible is the deterioration in myself!’: childhood, middle age and the redemption of a humanist in George Orwell’s ‘Such, Such Were the Joys’.- Chapter 7. ‘Little soft oases’: Edmund Gosse, the hard-driven soul and inconsolability.- Chapter 8. ‘This book should be heavy with things and flesh’: the body, sensation and love of the world in Camus’ Le premier homme.- Chapter 9. Closing (beginning with an abandoned opening).- Chapter 10. Bibliography.- Chapter 11. Acknowledgements./

Christopher Hamilton is Reader in Philosophy at King’s College London, UK. He is the author of five previous books, including A Philosophy of Tragedy (2016), as well as articles in ethics, philosophy of religion and aesthetics.

• Chapter 1. Opening: the voice off in philosophy.- Chapter 2. Introduction: Who is speaking and to whom?.- Chapter 3. ‘The god of the city’: Walter Benjamin, enchantment and the material subject.- Chapter 4. ‘An immense expenditure of energy come to nothing’: philosophy, literature and death in Peter Weiss’ Abschied von den Eltern.- Chapter 5. ‘Someone is missing’: Jean-Paul Sartre, comédie and the longing for necessity.- Chapter 6.‘How terrible is the deterioration in myself!’: childhood, middle age and the redemption of a humanist in George Orwell’s ‘Such, Such Were the Joys’.- Chapter 7. ‘Little soft oases’: Edmund Gosse, the hard-driven soul and inconsolability.- Chapter 8. ‘This book should be heavy with things and flesh’: the body, sensation and love of the world in Camus’ Le premier homme.- Chapter 9. Closing (beginning with an abandoned opening).- Chapter 10. Bibliography.- Chapter 11. Acknowledgements./