Maria Balaska – författare

The fifth volume in the acclaimed Francis Bacon Studies series, published under the aegis of The Estate of Francis Bacon David Sylvester's Interviews with Francis Bacon remain the most consulted writing on Bacon. In this book, the fifth volume in the acclaimed Francis Bacon Studies series, Bacon's words appear in their unredacted form for the very first time. Other essays throw light on form and accident in Bacon's work, chimera and liminal entities, the psychology of the imposter and destroyed paintings. Half of this volume, an unprecedented proportion in the ‘Studies’ series, is devoted to one topic: key parts of Bacon’s responses in Interviews with Francis Bacon that were removed, either to maintain continuity or at Bacon's own insistence. This unpublished material will add immensely to this most frequently consulted resource and will require a reassessment of many of Bacon's statements and ideas. Maria Balaska considers the question: Where does a painting come from? She investigates forms and accidents in Bacon's work. Amanda J. Harrison studies chimera and liminal entities in Bacon’s work, while Darian Leader turns our attention to the psychology of the imposter. Martin Harrison examines photographs of four paintings that Bacon later destroyed, and are reproduced here for the first time.

At times, we find ourselves unexpectedly immersed in a mood that lacks any clear object or identifiable cause. These uncanny moments tend to be hastily dismissed as inconsequential, left without explanation. Maria Balaska examines two such cases: wonder and anxiety – what it means to prepare for them, what life may look like after experiencing them, and what insights we can take from those experiences.For Kierkegaard anxiety is a door to freedom, for Heidegger wonder is a distress that opens us to the truth of Being, and for Wittgenstein wonder and anxiety are deeply connected to the ethical. Drawing on themes from these thinkers and bringing them into dialogue, Balaska argues that in our encounters with nothing we encounter the very potential of our existence. Most importantly, we confront what is most inconspicuous and fundamental about the human condition and what makes it possible to encounter anything at all: our distinct capacity for making sense of things.

At times, we find ourselves unexpectedly immersed in a mood that lacks any clear object or identifiable cause. These uncanny moments tend to be hastily dismissed as inconsequential, left without explanation. Maria Balaska examines two such cases: wonder and anxiety – what it means to prepare for them, what life may look like after experiencing them, and what insights we can take from those experiences.For Kierkegaard anxiety is a door to freedom, for Heidegger wonder is a distress that opens us to the truth of Being, and for Wittgenstein wonder and anxiety are deeply connected to the ethical. Drawing on themes from these thinkers and bringing them into dialogue, Balaska argues that in our encounters with nothing we encounter the very potential of our existence. Most importantly, we confront what is most inconspicuous and fundamental about the human condition and what makes it possible to encounter anything at all: our distinct capacity for making sense of things.

Instead of disappointment with language’s sense-making capacities, Balaska argues that Wittgenstein and Lacan can help us find in this revelation of meaning’s groundlessness an opportunity to acknowledge our own involvement in meaning, to creatively participate in it and thereby to enrich our forms of life with language.

Instead of disappointment with language’s sense-making capacities, Balaska argues that Wittgenstein and Lacan can help us find in this revelation of meaning’s groundlessness an opportunity to acknowledge our own involvement in meaning, to creatively participate in it and thereby to enrich our forms of life with language.

Including comparisons to the work of other contemporary moral philosophers such as Martha Nussbaum, Jeff McMahan, Rai Gaita, Eva Kittay, Christine Korsgaard, and Edward Harcourt, the volume also creates interdisciplinary links between Diamond’s work and other fields of study, including psychoanalysis and contemporary ethology.