Alone and OK. How We Learn to Be By Ourselves

In modern society, the idea of individualism dominates, but loneliness is often perceived as a personal failure. We find ourselves striving for both freedom and closeness, a paradox vividly illustrated by the experience of isolation during the pandemic. In his essays, German writer and journalist Daniel Schreiber examines this apparent paradox, drawing on the works of philosophers (from Aristotle and Michel Foucault to Hannah Arendt and Gilles Deleuze), literary fiction (from Jane Austen to Annie Ernaux), contemporary studies by practicing psychotherapists, and even popular sitcoms. He arrives at the hopeful thought that constructing hierarchies of life models may not be the best idea and that the word 'loneliness' corresponds to more than just dark tones.