Publish at September 24 2018 Updated October 11 2023
The injunction to collaborate and create social links is strong. Saying you like solitude isn't the best argument for getting a job. In fact, even on our own, we consult social networks. In the middle of nowhere, we look for wi-fi. Yet some authors remind us of the virtues of solitude when it doesn't cut us off from others for good, while others invite us to "unplug" from what connects us to the noise of the world.
Paolo Cognetti is an Italian author. In Le garçon sauvage, he recounts his experience in the Aosta Valley. Setting off to find himself and write, he soon discovered that you're never alone. In the most remote spaces, we are surrounded by the traces of those who have gone before us. There's nowhere in the world that hasn't been explored by other humans, and they've often left objects, detritus or more profound modifications on our surroundings. What's more, the loneliness he feels brings back memories of authors like Thoreau, Krakauer and McCandless, who also recounted experiences of withdrawal from the world.
The first reflex of anyone who claims to have discovered a rare and unknown space is to share it on social networks or call friends... when technology allows. They find themselves in communion with those who have gone before, and with those who have not undertaken the journey. The new explorer dreams of "likes" on Instagram and exchanges with his community.
Not so for Paolo Cognetti. He will quickly perceive a human life around him, exchanging favors and kindnesses, taking care of a neighbor's dog, cooking and sharing meals with another loner... The paradox of people who seek solitude... is that they end up finding each other.
The irony of the book is that Paolo Cognetti's quest for solitude has led him to create new bonds...
Olivier Remaud presents an initial vision of solitude, often linked to an experience of the extreme: arid landscapes, intense heat or cold, elements to be fought against. Explorers and adventurers tell us that this environment has enabled them to find peace, tranquility and calm. It's a question of freeing oneself from a social straitjacket and one's habits. But this solitude is also a moment of physical suffering.
Others have insisted on a communion with nature and the environment. Solitude allows us to open up to wonder, to forget ourselves and to be entirely in the present.
But Olivier Remaud does not develop a romantic or absolute idea of solitude: it can help to rebuild oneself, but it can also destroy anyone who is not prepared for it. The experiences we remember from literature are rarely extreme: Henry David Thoreau regularly moved from his cabin on Walden Lake to the village of Concord, where he met in society. Montaigne secluded himself in his library, but kept abreast of the affairs of the city. The space of solitude is a backroom, indispensable but not definitively closed!
"We must reserve for ourselves a back room all nostre, all franche, in which we establish our true freedom and principal retirement and solitude."
Even the hero of Into the Wild, McCandless, crossed paths with other people, planned to return home and lead a conventional life.
But it seems that all art, personal reflection and writing require a dose of solitude. Olivier Remaud quotes Glenn Gould:
"I've always had this sort of feeling that for every hour you spend with other human beings, you need an ""x"" number of hours on your own".
Olivier Remaud is careful to distinguish between solitude and isolation. The latter refers to a situation that is neither chosen nor definitive. Isolation is the sign or cause of a state of malaise, rather than a means of self-development.
Among the many authors quoted in "Solitude volontaire", Henri David Thoreau confirms: solitude and nature allow "a step aside", a necessary detour to think for oneself.
In 2018, the authors quoted by Olivier Remaud would advise us to unplug our machines for fairly long periods, as Sylvain Tesson regularly suggests. Montaigne would no longer be alone in his tower! His smartphone would be a constant reminder that someone, somewhere is waiting for a response from him. He himself might be tempted to share and exchange his thoughts, like those contemporary intellectuals who get bogged down in endless, sterile debates on Twitter...
But we're sure he would also have known how to defend himself against this economy of attention, to use Yves Citton's expression. Our moments of attention, our interactions, are gold for those who trade in our data. Anything that allows them to push us around, to "distract" us, is beneficial to them. And isolating yourself to make a phone call is the opposite of what Olivier Remaud proposes, or what Paolo Cognetti is trying to achieve.
Illustrations: Frédéric Duriez
Resources :
Olivier Remaud, Solitude volontaire ed. Albin Michel, November 2017
https://www.decitre.fr/ebooks/solitude-volontaire-9782226426703_9782226426703_16.html
Sébastien Le Foll, Du bon usage de la solitude article published in Le Point, December 29, 2017
http://www.lepoint.fr/editos-du-point/sebastien-le-fol/sebastien-le-fol-du-bon-usage-de-la-solitude-29-12-2017-2183019_1913.php
Paolo Cognetti, le garçon sauvage, éditions 10/18 - 2018 translated from Italian by Anita Rochedy
https://www.decitre.fr/livres/le-garcon-sauvage-9782264070081.html
Jean-Marie Durand "Seul avec tous : la solitude comme rempart contre l'isolement", les Inrocks - November 2017
https://www.lesinrocks.com/2017/11/13/idees/seul-avec-tous-la-solitude-est-un-rempart-contre-lisolement-111008349/
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