The Toothpaste of Immortality

by Hankiss, Elemer

• ISBN13: 9780801884214
• ISBN10: 0801884217
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-08-02
• Publisher: Johns Hopkins Univ Pr

Summary

This lively and insightful account reveals the profound ways in which everyday acts and artifacts of consumer civilization shape our sense of self. Elemer Hankiss shows how human beings act simultaneously in two plays. On the "trivial" surface of their everyday lives they work, make money, raise children, build houses, and do a lot of other things. At the same time, they also act in the "existential" drama of their lives -- even if they are not aware of doing so. They construct and reconstruct their selves each day by striving for authenticity, the intense experience of being, dignity, meaning, and the hope of immortality. Hankiss explores this interaction between the trivial and existential, in the process unfolding its context in "consumer civilization." This concept is brilliantly illustrated in a section entitled "the toothpaste of immortality": "If we watch enough commercials, we believe that this or that special brand of toothpaste preserves our teeth, and -- per metonymiam -- ourselves, young and beautiful indefinitely. And then, for a fleeting moment, there, in our bathrooms, we experience the sweet and melancholy illusion that we may stay young and beautiful forever; that we may defeat mortality; we may defeat decay and death." First published to great success in Hungarian, this entertaining and compelling book reveals surprising insights into the challenges and possibilities of self-fulfillment.

Author Biography

Elem+¬r Hankiss is professor of sociology at the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium. He has taught in European and American universities and has served as senior scientist for the Gallup Organization, chairman of Hungarian Public Television, and managing editor of the English-American Section of Europa Publishing House. He has published books in French, English, German, Polish, and Hungarian. His most recent book is Fears and Symbols: An Introduction to the Study of Western Civilization. He was a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in 1987--88 and 2003--4.

Table of Contents

Tables	xiii
Acknowledgments	xv
Introduction: Trivialities Are Not Trivial	1	(20)
The trivial and the existential
A trivial (and existential) example
The duality of the self in philosophy
The duality of the self in psychology
The method
The self in everyday life
The self in the consumer age
What is missing
PART ONE THE SELF IN EVERYDAY LIFE
1. The Morning Reconstruction of the Self	21	(28)
The jungle of the night
Kings, zebras, humans
Prayer
The first cigarette
The first cup of coffee
The mirror
The magic shower
The toothpaste of immortality
Exercise
The coiffure
Makeup
Perfumes
The fashion show
Stripes
Jewels
Knickknacks
Shoes
Hands
Women's handbags
Goals and life goals
2. The Reconstruction of the World	49	(6)
The family
The papers
The weather
The mirror, once more
3. The Self in the Public Space	55	(32)
Which world?
A framework
The private and the public self
The presentation of self
The elevator speech
"Preedy"
Models
Norms of conduct
Etiquette
The art of lying
Masquerades
Sunglasses
Cars and bicycles
Personal music players and cell phones
Networks
4. The Limits and Freedom of Self-Construction	87	(14)
The social construction of the self
The self as a trap
Self-construction and freedom
The self as a narrative
5. The Self at Work	101	(6)
The workplace
Keep smiling
My desk
6. The Self and the Articulation of Time	107	(16)
In the street
The shopping center
Travel
The pub
Sports
Gossip.
7. The Self at Home	123	(22)
The home and its objects
The home and its people
Self and love
Children
Television
Books
My wife's bookshelves
Switching off
PART TWO THE SELF IN THE CONSUMER AGE
8. The Self in a Changing World	145	(16)
Possible and impossible futures
The self in various worlds
9. "Proletarian Renaissance"	161	(36)
An apology
The concept of crisis
"Crises"
Answers
The modern—postmodern dilemma
A questionable parallel
The Renaissance
Renaissance and Reformation
Other comparisons
Proletarian Renaissance
The Great Transformation
Harmony and disharmony
Stoicism, Epicureanism, and Neo-Platonism
Visions of the world
10. The Self in a Syncretic Age	197	(14)
The first paradox
The emergence and disappearance of the self
Concepts and strategies
A multiple self?
The second paradox
11. The Self and the Intensity of Life	211	(12)
The loss of transcendence
The cult of the moment
The cult of intensity
The sources of intensity
12. The Self in Boundary Situations	223	(18)
Fear and civilization
Death in the consumer civilization
The beauty and the death
The martyrdom of the monster with a golden heart
The wheel of fortune
The fall of princes
The scandal
13. The Myth of the Self	241	(24)
The cult of the human personality
"Who are you?"
Celebrities
The gaze
Gods and goddesses
Mythology in the superlative
The glory and the fall of gods
The "legends" of golf
Imitatio Dei
All or nothing
14. The Self in a Reenchanted World	265	(18)
Two worlds
The loss of meaning
New myths
The reenchantment of the world
Proletarian Renaissance:
Crisis? Transition? Revival?
Epilogue	283	(16)
Care for the self
Care for the self: past and present
"Highbrow" and "lowbrow" selves
Risks
Assets
Why all this zeal?
Questions
Notes	299	(48)
References	347	(54)
Index	401