Freedom and the Drama of Coexistence: Political Reflections with Beauvoir, Arendt, Ferrante and Morrison

• In Event: Literature and Politics in Modern and Contemporary Thought

Abstract

This paper draws upon the political thinking of Simone de Beauvoir to begin my investigation into how to achieve freedom for oneself and with others. What I call the drama of coexistence is derived from a deep reading of Beauvoir’s texts. Seeking freedom is fraught because of the lived positionality of each of us vis "à" vis that of others. Yet, freedom is only possible relationally, I maintain. Thus, my study is one that examines relationality on several different levels of analysis from the most intimate to the most global. Along with Beauvoir, I engage with various works of Hannah Arendt, Elena Ferrante and Toni Morrison to lay out a picture of freedom that I offer as compelling for our times.

Author

• Patricia Moynagh, Wagner College