Emerging from the Lonely Night: F. Scott Fitzgerald and the Shadow of Fin-de-Siècle Aestheticism

As I started think about concept of perfection and its relationship research questions that I am wrestling with these days--personal and cultural responses climate crisis and resource depletion--I keep coming back idea that perfection is a problematic concept because of its place as something that exists only beyond real, beyond human experience. The roots of concept of perfection in Western culture, apparently, go back first its Greek definition as completeness, and then its Latin entymology to finish or to bring an end. At first, juxtaposition of these two definitions seems point in different directions: Aristotle considered something be perfect if it could not be improved and had attained its full purpose; later Romans seem have believed that if a thing had reached this state of perfection, then by definition it had be over, done. Although for Greeks and Romans, under these definitions, perfection might well be achieved in human life, in Christian tradition it becomes clear that only God can be perfect; only Divine can ever be complete, whole, no longer be improved. If that is true, then by definition humanity can only ever strive toward example of divine but will never attain it. Until, of course, we are finished; dead and reborn in perfection of paradise. During secularization of Enlightenment, Nature (with a capital N) took place of God as divine and as perfect. The goal became not become like God but live in complete harmony with Nature. Civilization became new fall-from-grace, that sin that moved us out of our previously Edenic state of harmony with Nature and which we can never fully return. Newly encountered indigenous, so-called primitive, peoples became ideal for ways in which they were perceived as living in perfect harmony with nature (a perception always already tinged with tragedy of their inevitable decline and disappearance). So perfection remained unattainable in modern world, located either deep in ancient past or in never-certain possibility of future afterlife. Nature subbed in for God, but place of perfection as something beyond real remained. In more modern times, of course, neither God nor Nature retains a position of authority, and, indeed, postmodernism would suggest that perfection as concept cannot exist, because any benchmark has be set by some sort of authority, which we always already know is deeply limited. I would argue that corporations have stepped into authoritative void that postmodernism emptied of God and Nature. In popular consciousness, what is deemed perfect today exists only through digital manipulation, what Alison Hearn has called the corporate colonization of 'real' (np). Perfection is now ultimate simulacrum, where what is being reproduced or simulated never actually existed and is being defined, virtually, by corporations and digital image-makers. …

In the modern world, people are confronted with various pandemic outbreaks that have a significant impact on their lives. These events often result in personal stories of fear and loss, which can have a considerable effect on mental health and are shaped by broader societal trauma. Literature about pandemics offers valuable insights into human behavior and societal structures, while also providing comfort and lessons in resilience and community. Understanding pandemics involves studying disease patterns in populations (epidemiology) and concepts such as transmission, containment, mitigation, and herd immunity. People experience trauma on both personal and societal levels during a pandemic, resulting in psychological and emotional struggles, including fear, loss, isolation, and the disruption of daily lives. The connection between trauma and pandemics has a long history, as seen in events like the Black Death in the 14th century, the 1918 Spanish Flu, and the HIV/AIDS pandemic, which caused psychological trauma for certain individuals. This paper aims to explore the relationship between pandemics and trauma by analyzing the origins of trauma, its consequences, the psychological and emotional responses of people during crises, and the coping mechanisms. The analysis will be done through the novel “The End of October” by Lawrence Wright, focusing on how individual suffering and societal responses mutually influence each other, providing a deep understanding of personal and societal responses. The paper sheds light on the impacts on pandemics and trauma influencing the lives of people, Scientists and government authorities.

Readers of Joshua Loth Liebman's <i>Peace of Mind</i>