hineinhorchen […] it seems to me that this word is untranslatable. Hearkening to myself, to others, to the world. […] I listen very intently, with my whole being, and try to fathom the meaning of things. […] I keep on looking for something but don’t know what […].*
(Etty Hillesum)
“Flanerie, [Pierre-Alexis Dumas] explained, is not about “being idle” or “doing nothing.” It’s an “attitude”of curiosity … about exploring everything.” It flourished in the nineteenth century,” he continued, “as a form of resistance to industrialisation and the rationalisation of everyday life.”**
(Lauren Elkin)
In a world bent on ever-increasing noise and busyness, the need to be be heard, updating our social media, a world of the false self and power-gain, listening curiously and deeply is our resistance.
(*From Patrick Woodhouse’s Etty Hillesum: A Life Transformed.)
(**Lauren Elkin, in the The Paris Review: Radical Flaneuserie, 25/8/16.)
