Inaction

What unites such diverse characters in this book? Why do they refuse to act, or consciously, even demonstratively, laze, waste time and talent, practice silence and failure? Western culture approves of activity, equating powerlessness with illness. Those who refuse to act are viewed with suspicion. But in a world of wars and terrible inequality, a world where there is too much of everything, including despair, inaction becomes a way out, a means to save freedom and dignity.

The author compiles a subjective catalog of inactions. Among others, Arthur Rimbaud, J.D. Salinger, Franz Fischer, the heroines of Elena Ferrante's novels, Roland Barthes, anonymous women available for any service, Ralph Ellison, children suffering from selective mutism, and alternative artists of the "Culture of Assembly" appear on the pages of the book. Studying their motivations is an occasion to reflect on the state of contemporary culture and the strategies of creators in a time that demands convulsive activity from us.