rupture(s)

Claire Marin

(Éditions de l’Observatoire, 160 pages, 2019)

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Ruptures fashion us perhaps more than connections.

Birth or death, separation or new love, exile or need for an “elsewhere”; whether such ruptures are a source of joy or sorrow, they give rhythm to our existence. While they point to the presence of the unforeseeable in our lives, ruptures often test our ability to endure uncertainty and retain composure during catastrophe. They transform us, challenging us to ask the most fundamental questions regarding ourselves.

How do we reconcile these “forks in our road” with the belief in our unique and constant identity? Do ruptures reveal the multiplicity of our possible identities, or the fact that we are incrementally consolidating ourselves as we contend with life’s mishaps, chance events, changes of course, and unavoidable wounds? Do they perfect us or do they destroy us? For in any rupture, there is as much opportunity to find oneself as there is to lose oneself.

At once erudite and accessible, Rupture(s) is not a self-help book. Rather than guiding us in learning how to look at the bright side and bounce back after disrupting events, philosopher Claire Marin engages us in a sensitively argued reflection, inspired by contemporary literature, on how our lives are made as much from detours as from intended routes. If ruptures can break us—and Marin does not shy from the fact that they sometimes do—they can also offer us the opportunity to become more fully ourselves.

Claire Marin is a professor of philosophy. Her publications include Hors de moi (Allia, 2008, awarded the 2008 Prix littéraire de l’Académie de médecine and Prix Jean Bernard) and Violences de la maladie, violence de la vie (2010 Prix Éthique et société Pierre Simon).