Scattered Thoughts on Melancholia and the Organization of Pessimism

We read a bunch of stuff about Walter Benjamin and Enzo Traverso and tried to have a conversation about it.  We've only managed to reinforce the idea that "The organization of pessimism" is the only slogan that can save us from death.  Traverso, Enzo. Left-wing melancholia : Marxism, history, and memory. New York: Columbia University Press, 2016. Print. Against Revolutionary Pessimism and Optimism: Revolutionary Realism by J. Moufawad Paul http://moufawad-paul.blogspot.com/2016/10/against-revolutionary-pessimism-and.html An Invisible Underground River: On Left-Wing Melancholia- Michael Lowy https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/3289-an-invisible-underground-river-on-left-wing-melancholia How to kill a zombie: strategizing the end of neoliberalism- Mark Fisher https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/how-to-kill-zombie-strategizing-end-of-neoliberalism/  Walter Benjamin’s Gothic Marxism and The Organization of Pessimism: Michael Lowy https://www.radicalphilosophy.com/article/walter-benjamin-and-surrealism Victor Serge: Indispensable Critic of Leftist Illusion- Mitchel Abidor https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2019/02/28/victor-serge-indispensable-critic-of-leftist-illusion/  Four Reasons the European Left Lost- Wolfgang Streeck https://jacobinmag.com/2019/05/european-parliament-elections-results-left?fbclid=IwAR0IIEH5W8SrlH9EfJ31XDLDFjvTZ2lp-ucok0GtxtpDsWzsrSMHQ_oB9DM The Organization of Pessimism: Profane Illumination & Anthropological Materialism in Walter Benjamin https://www.academia.edu/33848834/The_Organization_of_Pessimism_Profane_Illumination_and_Anthropological_Materialism_in_Walter_Benjamin Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show Visit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop