Mariana Alessandri – författare

A philosopher’s personal meditation on how painful emotions can reveal truths about what it means to be truly humanUnder the light of ancient Western philosophies, our darker moods like grief, anguish, and depression can seem irrational. When viewed through the lens of modern psychology, they can even look like mental disorders. The self-help industry, determined to sell us the promise of a brighter future, can sometimes leave us feeling ashamed that we are not more grateful, happy, or optimistic. Night Vision invites us to consider a different approach to life, one in which we stop feeling bad about feeling bad.In this powerful and disarmingly intimate book, Existentialist philosopher Mariana Alessandri draws on the stories of a diverse group of nineteenth- and twentieth-century philosophers and writers to help us see that our suffering is a sign not that we are broken but that we are tender, perceptive, and intelligent. Thinkers such as Audre Lorde, María Lugones, Miguel de Unamuno, C. S. Lewis, Gloria Anzaldúa, and Søren Kierkegaard sat in their anger, sadness, and anxiety until their eyes adjusted to the dark. Alessandri explains how readers can cultivate “night vision” and discover new sides to their painful moods, such as wit and humor, closeness and warmth, and connection and clarity.Night Vision shows how, when we learn to embrace the dark, we begin to see these moods—and ourselves—as honorable, dignified, and unmistakably human.

A philosopher’s personal meditation on how painful emotions can reveal truths about what it means to be truly humanUnder the light of ancient Western philosophies, our darker moods like grief, anguish, and depression can seem irrational. When viewed through the lens of modern psychology, they can even look like mental disorders. The self-help industry, determined to sell us the promise of a brighter future, can sometimes leave us feeling ashamed that we are not more grateful, happy, or optimistic. Night Vision invites us to consider a different approach to life, one in which we stop feeling bad about feeling bad.In this powerful and disarmingly intimate book, Existentialist philosopher Mariana Alessandri draws on the stories of a diverse group of nineteenth- and twentieth-century philosophers and writers to help us see that our suffering is a sign not that we are broken but that we are tender, perceptive, and intelligent. Thinkers such as Audre Lorde, María Lugones, Miguel de Unamuno, C. S. Lewis, Gloria Anzaldúa, and Søren Kierkegaard sat in their anger, sadness, and anxiety until their eyes adjusted to the dark. Alessandri explains how readers can cultivate “night vision” and discover new sides to their painful moods, such as wit and humor, closeness and warmth, and connection and clarity.Night Vision shows how, when we learn to embrace the dark, we begin to see these moods—and ourselves—as honorable, dignified, and unmistakably human.

A powerful philosophical meditation on shame, the social emotion that pervades our lives—and isn’t merely in our headsFor far too long, we have been led to believe that shame is a feeling we inflict on ourselves. We are told to go easier on ourselves and practice self-compassion. But what happens when self-compassion isn’t enough? Why are we still self-conscious, insecure, or feeling like imposters? The Arrow of Shame gives relief to anyone who has ever blamed themselves for feeling bad.Philosopher Mariana Alessandri offers a new way of thinking about shame, blending personal stories and real-world examples of shaming with insights from figures such as Jean-Paul Sartre, Gloria Anzaldúa, Erving Goffman, Frantz Fanon, and Simone de Beauvoir. From mild embarrassment to outright self-loathing, shame is the feeling of being involuntarily exposed to judgment. For all of us, but especially for socially stigmatized groups, shame is neither self-caused nor optional. When shame’s arrow pierces us, we often ask, “What’s wrong with me?” when we should be asking, “What’s wrong?” Alessandri helps us to interrogate the shaming practices in society and to realize that, while unavoidable, feeling self-conscious is a perceptive, socially attuned response to a judgmental environment.This insightful, thought-provoking book offers a new lens through which readers can see how a shaming society encourages us to believe that we are being overly sensitive, that we are making things up, or that our feelings of unworthiness are all in our heads. We can’t avoid shame entirely, but we can stop blaming ourselves.