Description

Bloom is a human figure emblematic of our civilisation, the quintessential contemporary man. Bloom is you and me, or at least the person we are taught we ought to be. This book is about Bloom’s spiritual and metaphysical condition – a condition characterised by emptiness and alienation, yet one that occasionally allows us to glimpse a way out of the social desert of role-playing, a path towards true community.

Bloom is also the term used by the writers’ collective Tiqqun to describe the post-individualist condition, when we are no longer urged to refine some inner essence or substance, but rather are trained to be as malleable as possible – capable of assuming any character at any time. “It has (…) long been key for me to adapt to the various situations I find myself in, and always do my best to fit in as well as possible.” (Anton Abele, Moderate Party MP)

In other words, Bloom is an existence in which we grope for one another and try to find ways to meet as something other than ready-made individuals. We all orbit nervously around our shared, potential power, afraid to use it and unsure of how.

The book features an introductory foreword by the translation collective Kollektivkritik.