The Power of Distraction: Diversion and Reverie from Montaigne to Proust

(Hardback)

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From reducing screen time to the Pomodoro Technique, were constantly being advised to avoid distraction if we want to live and work better. But Alessandra Aloisi argues were missing the point. Drawing on a broad range of European philosophy and literature, this book considers distraction not as an expression of human imperfection, but as a creative, subversive and aesthetic capability. In contrast to the historic understandings of distraction, from monastic manuals to Robert Burtons The Anatomy of Melancholy, in which he describes distraction as a symptom of misery, Aloisi argues that it is often precisely when we lose focus that inspiration finds us. Why else are artists described as having their heads in the clouds This book demonstrates the serendipity of distraction through creative case studies ranging from Delacroix and Manet to the Netflix show, Black Mirror. With inspiration from Stendhal, Baudelaire, Rousseau and others, Aloisi further examines the political value of distraction. After all, in an age of 24/7 availability and technology fighting for our attention, distraction provides what Bergson called a slight revolt from the codes and behaviours that society dictates. Combining philosophy, literature, art and politics, The Power of Distraction urges us to think differently about our attention span and consider just how productive daydreams can be.

Author Bio

Alessandra Aloisi is Lecturer in French Literature and Thought at the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages of the University of Oxford, UK. She is co-editor, with M. Piazza and M. Sinclair, of Maine de Biran's 'Of Immediate Apperception' (Bloomsbury, 2020).