Loneliness

The avant-garde in Literature and Art

At the beginning of the 20th century, artistic tendencies emerged to break with the traditionalism of bygone eras. Surrealism, Dadaism, Expressionism, Futurism and Cubism are among the main avant-garde movements that have influenced not only literature, but the arts in general.

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Loneliness – the guardian

Loneliness

Loneliness is everywhere. Or so it seems. It’s been described in medical terms, as an epidemic, plague and infection. (…)

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Le Penseur Auguste Rodin

Le Penseur (1904) Auguste Rodin

Loneliness or Solitude is something that puts fear in many people. Lonely people are seen as unhappy or unwanted. However, loneliness can be a choice.

Short Solitude Tale

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Paula Rego

Loneliness inspires cinema. This selection of four films covers different discussions on the subject.

Loneliness and Cinema

Taxi Driver, Martin Scorsese (1976) Robert de Niro is a veteran of the VietnWar . When he returns back to New York, he starts working as a taxi driver in the early hours of the morning. Loneliness and his revolt for misery, violence, vices and prostitution are its hallmarks. The character played by De Niro shows compassion when trying to help a 12-year-old prostitute. On the other hand, he buys guns and plans an attack on a senator who wants to be president.

“Paris, Texas” , Wim Wenders (1984) A man Who had already been very happy, but he became a degenerate in his own life. The only memory he has of his glorious past is a film shot in super eight, which only makes him miss everything he will ever be. Travis Henderson —that's his name—another of Harry Dean Stanton's gallery of unforgettable types, is lost in his own memories and all he knows about himself is that he has a brother, to whose house he's dispatched after four years gone. The return of this almost dead man will exorcize some ghosts and create so many more.

Loneliness inspires cinema. This selection of four films covers different discussions on the subject.

Loneliness and Cinema

“Wings of Desire”, Wim Wenders (1997) In post-World War II, Berlin, Bruno Ganz brings to life the angel Damiel, who wanders around the city snooping around the vile existence of the simple mortals with his colleague Cassiel, Otto Sander. Everything goes well, until the trapeze artist Marion, played by Solveig Dommartin, comes into play. As no one, not even angels, can have it all, Damiel will have to choose between living this great passion or continuing his celestial mission.

“Lost in Translation”, Sofia Coppola (2003) Bob Harris, a decadent actor, is in Tokyo to do a whiskey commercial, enjoying the little prestige he has left. Charlotte is also in the Japanese capital with her husband, a workaholic photographer who doesn't have time for her and leaves her alone all day. Both have not yet adapted to the time zone, which triggers in them an atrocious insomnia. In order to beat her, they frequent the hotel bar where they are staying during the early hours and end up maintaining a solid friendship. Without juggling rhetoric, with actors of supine talent and a sensitive and profound story, this is one of the best films dedicated to investigating how lost can become the human soul in such a short time and in a place that, as welcoming as it may seem, is it timeless for not being where it should be.

Loneliness inspires cinema. This selection of four films covers different discussions on the subject.

Loneliness and Cinema

“Lars and the Real Girl”, Craig Gillespie (2007) The film depicts the life of Lars, a shy man who lives in the garage of brother Gus and sister-in-law Karin. Lars knows on the Internet, Bianca, a religious missionary. Turns out Bianca is an inflatable doll. Lars believes Bianca is a woman of flesh and blood. The brother and sister-in-law are instructed by a psychologist to agree with Lars, at this stage where he faces his personal dramas.

Wall-E, Andrew Stanton (2008) Humanity fatally pollutes the Earth with toxic gases and must leave the planet, where life is no longer possible, to live in a giant spaceship. Only robots stayed on Earth to clean up the planet. Wall-E is the last of them and his job is to compact the trash. A ship brings Eva, a more modern robot. Wall-E falls in love with the newcomer.

Loneliness inspires cinema. This selection of four films covers different discussions on the subject.

Loneliness and Cinema

Her, Spike Jonze (2013) Joaquin Phoenix lives a lonely writer who falls in love with the voice of an operating system. The voice is of actress Scarlett Johansson. Being alone is really something beneficial.

Joker, Todd Phillips (2019) A brilliant Joaquin Phoenix represents an Isolated Joker Intimidated, bullied and disregarded by society, the failed comedian Arthur Fleck starts his way as a criminal mind after murdering three men in the middle of the subway. His action starts a popular movement against Gotham City's elite, of which Thomas Wayne is his greatest representative.

Loneliness was also portrayed in well-known songs nowadays: Together with love in its various aspects, loneliness, whether voluntary or involuntary, is one of the favorite themes and most present in music.

Solitude and Music

• Space Oddity – David Bowie • Lonely Is the Word – Black Sabbath • Hurt – Johnny Cash • Summertime – Janis Joplin • How Soon Is Now? – The Smiths • Black – Pearl Jam • Motorcicle Emptiness – Manic street Preachers

Loneliness was also portrayed in well-known songs nowadays: Together with love in its various aspects, loneliness, whether voluntary or involuntary, is one of the favorite themes and most present in music.

Solitude and Music

• Alone – Heart • La solitudine – Laura Pausini • Olá Solidão – Os quatro e meia • Hourglass – Green Leather • Society- Eddie Veder • Owner of a lonely Heart - Yes • La Solitude - Leo Ferré

The society of tirednessThe German-Korean philosopher Byung-Chul Han states that loneliness detoxifies our mind from information overload. The author explains that loneliness is only productive when we overcome boredom. Byung-Chul Han uses the thought of Cato, a Roman politician, to base his ideas "We forget that no one is more active than when he does nothing, he is never less alone than when he is with himself." The art of being alone The Spanish philosopher Francesc Torralba tells in The art of being alone that loneliness is an experience of the soul. For Torralba, loneliness is the "Opportunity to review our management, to design the future and to evaluate the quality of the bonds we have built. It is a space to perform an existential audit and ask what is essential to us, in addition to the demands of the social environment."

Famous phrases of famous people about the solitude (solidão) :

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Edward Hopper

Loneliness and painting

Hover the mouse in the image

Loneliness and sculpture

«Les Voyageurs» Bruno Catalano

Fredik Raddum

Janete Sales Dany

Vinicius de Moraes

Sônia Gonçalves

"Três Poemas da Solidão"

Loneliness poems

Alexandre Oliveira

Fernanda de Castro

Rô Smith

Fernando Pessoa

Victor Motta

Albert Einstein