Theory of the Solitary Sailor

by Gilles Grelet, Amy Ireland (Translator), Robin Mackay (Translator)

There are those who go to sea in order to quit the world, to purge themselves of it, and those who annex the sea to the world, making it as worldly as they can….

Over a decade ago, Gilles Grelet left the city to live permanently on the sea, in silence and solitude, with no plans to return to land, rarely leaving his boat Théorème and never for more than a few hours at a time. An act of radical refusal, a process of undoing one by one the ties that attach humans to the world, for Grelet this departure was also inseparable from an ongoing ‘theorroristic’ campaign of anti-philosophy.

Like François Laruelle’s ‘ordinary man’ or Rousseau’s ‘solitary walker’, Grelet’s solitary sailor is a radical theoretical figure, herald angel of an existential rebellion against the world and against philosophy’s world-thought, point zero of an anti-philosophy as rigorous gnosis, and apprentice in the herethical practice of sailing.

As indifferently serene and implacably violent as the ocean itself, devastating for the sufficiency of the world and the reign of semblance, this is a lived anti-philosophy, a perpetual assault waged from the waters off the coast of Brittany, amid sea and wind.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction

128 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2022

Reviews

[Dante]

Assuredly misanthropic, but nonetheless vitalising (?). A whole trove/swamp of allusion that I can't trace, I'm sure, but with Robin Mackay's primer and an interest in the tensions of biography writing, this was a worthwhile short read. Will return.

[Superb footnotes, too. Season 4 of Mad Men, endless Rousseau and just the right amount of 'philosophy'. Ranciere hard done by with a lack of acknowledgement though.]

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

A convoluted read that likes to circle back on itself as an iterative process - but by no means dull. Replete with references and nods to other works that I'm not really familiar with but the exposition of one's relation with and to the sea made parts of this read illuminating and personally meaningful on a metaphysical level (much like Heidegger's Being and Time). While I'd hoped for more toward the mid-later portions regarding sailing and solitude (the Brittany sections felt digressive at times but the connection is made clear). this is one I'd like to reread.

[Larry · Rating 2 out of 5]

"This book will find favor neither among those who are anchored in reality and imbued with pragmatism, and who accept only those parts of theory that lead speculatively back to what they do and how that makes them who they are, nor among their counterparts for whom practice is worthy of consideration only once it has been passed through the seive of theory that is valued all the more the fewer consequences it has."


Four stars for points 16-20 (basically the last 20 pages) but the rest of this is.... Well it's a lot. Two stars for the whole thing because it's arguably the most self-important thing I've ever read.

[Gilles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Impenetrable at times but deep and wonderful. A must read for anyone who is pulled by the lure of the sea and the life of a solitary sailor.

[katya]

в переводе на русский артема морозова

[Donald · Rating 5 out of 5]

A special book, beautiful, but not in an empty or "artistic" and socialized way, mostly like when a boat is beautiful she's almost always a good, safe and efficiency and "comfortable" at sea boat. It's a book that works, in a human or metaphysical meaning. And it's very rare.

[Laurel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grelet presents his authorial ambition to live alone on the sea as a radical anti-philosophical act. He takes inspiration from Rousseau's The Reveries of the Solitary Walker and Laruelle's Ordinary Man to determine his existential rebellion against philosophy. He notes that his approach is not an alternative to philosophy but a reaction against philosophy that provides a careful meditation as a radical way of being in the world. The theme is reminiscent of Calvino's Baron in the Trees who similarly rejects the world and lives by the materialist parameters that allow existence newly defined. This short review cannot capture the rich and dense writing that Grelet offers that makes for a provocative and resonant read.