contemporariness

is a singular relationship with one's one time that adheres through a disjunction and an anachronism -- those who coincide too well cannot manage to see it.

Contemporariness is, then, a singular relationship with one's own time, which adheres to it and. at the same time, keeps a distance from it. More precisely, it is that relationship with time that adheres to it through a disjunction and an anachronism. Those who coincide too well with the epoch, those who are perfectly tied to it in every respect. are not contemporaries, precisely because they do not manage to see it... they are not able to firmly hold their gaze on it. (Agamben 2009 : 41)

is firmly one's gaze on his own time so as to perceive not its light, but rather its darkness.

I would like at this point to propose a second definition of contemporariness: The contempo rary is he who firmly holds his gaze on his own time so as to perceive not its light, but rather its darkness. All eras, for those who ex perience contemporariness, are obscure. The contemporary is precisely the person who knows how to see this obscurity, who is able to write by dipping his pen in the obscurity of the pres ent. But what does it mean, 'to see an obscurity,' 'to perceive the darkness'' (Agamben 2009: 45)

is like being on time for an appointment that one cannot but miss precisely because the appointment in question does not simply take place in chronological time, rather, contemporariness, by working within time, urges, presses, and transforms it.

In other words, it is like being on time for an appointment that one cannot but mIss. (Agamben 2009: 47). It is important to realize that the appointment that is in question in contemporariness does not simply rake place in chronological time: it is something that, working within chronological time, urges, presses, and transforms it. (Agamben 2009: 47)

contemporariness, n.Definitions

contemporariness