Does anyone know how the term "existentialist angst" originated? Existentialist philosophy apart, doesnt the phrase have something to do with Neruda?

ramya

Ramya

[tinyurl.com]

I've never heard the phrase used in connection with Neruda, and I wouldn't expect to.

I WOULD LIKE VERY MUCH TO KNOW WHY YOU'RE ASKING!

WAIT--I STAND CORRECTED!

I didn't think of Neruda as "existential" because he never struck me as being subject to "angst," but look at this:

"In 1927 Neruda was sent on his first diplomatic mission to the Orient, where he was to dedicate four years to consular duties in Burma, Ceylon, India, Java, and China. In May of 1929 Lorca departed for the United States, where he spent most of the following year in New York City, returning to Spain via Cuba in the autumn of 1930. The two poets were not acquainted with each other during that period, but these trips abroad appear to have acted upon them in similar ways, leading both in new directions toward a poetry of alienation and of existential anguish, stimulated in part by their encounters with people and political systems foreign to their understanding and sense of values. "

That's from an article about NERUDA & LORCA - read it at:
[www.uncc.edu] />
Maybe there you will find what you need.

Marian

Thank Hugh and Marian. Just curious about the origin of the phrase.

Although at times like now when I have too much free time , I wonder what I am doing in a law firm in Bombay and being into the rat race!

Ramya

Working to live, like the rest of us. Not living to work like some, I hope.

Is there something like too much angst? Is there any poet whose work you read and say "this person should learn to be a little happy."

Emily Dickinson?

She wasn't too unhappy here. Must have been an off day.



A thought went up my mind to-day
by Emily Dickinson

A thought went up my mind to-day
That I have had before,
But did not finish,--some way back,
I could not fix the year,

Nor where it went, nor why it came
The second time to me,
Nor definitely what it was,
Have I the art to say.

But somewhere in my soul, I know
I've met the thing before;
It just reminded me--'t was all--
And came my way no more.



Post Edited (03-10-04 13:58)

Ramya, if you wanted to know the origin of ANGST, that's a different question from whether Neruda was an existentialist. I thought you were interested in Neruda.

According to the Dictionary at www.philosophypages.com:

ANGST is . . A German word for the anxiety or anguish produced by an acute awareness of the implications of human freedom. An important notion for existentialist philosophers, including especially Kierkegaard and Heidegger.

Merriam-Webster days it's Danish as well as German.

Look up EXISTENTIALISM in a few reference books and you may find out who used it first in philosophy -- or you may not, since it was a commonly known word when Kierkegaard used it to describe his philosophical quandary.

How does an existentialist hold it all together?

"I "Love Summer more than I hate Winter"

"How does an existentialist hold it all together?"


One answer: WITH A SENSE OF HUMOR.

Another answer: BY GIVING UP ON THE IDEA OF HOLDING IT ALL TOGETHER.

Another answer: "An existentialist is someone who realizes that he can only exercise his free will by swimming with the tide, but faster."

Another answer: By writing.

El existencialismo, como tal, es uno de los elementos abundantes dentro de la obra del vate chileno Pablo Neruda.
Sin embargo, creo que este último basa más su obra en la nostalgía y melancolía relativa al amor, por sobre el cuestionamiento del ser, en lo que vendrían siendo los conceptos relativos a un existencialismo, propiamente tal.

Just a comment:
Although I've never heard of the term before, "Existentialist Angst" seems self explanatory.
Divorce is a most heart-wrenching example of when one can experience existentialist angst

"I "Love Summer more than I hate Winter"

Although I've never heard of the term before, "Existentialist Angst" seems self explanatory.

I too thought the phrase just meant "angst that arises out of existence", then the posts in this thread prompted me to do some browsing and I encountered stuff like freedom and choices and it all grew too academic for me. So I let it go.