Escape Routes

travel and literature

Abstract

This text is an invitation to travel through literature as a possibility for creating worlds, rewriting. It starts with the questioning of life’s dilemmas to reflect on the role of escape routes in contemporary times. Faced with the great and complex issues of life — which, in many circumstances, are created and/or exaggerated by ourselves —, what should we do? Confront them, when and how we can [regardless of the strength we have and with the purpose of submitting them to our dreams and desires]; or build escape valves [journeys, escape routes] that, at least apparently, have little or no relation to confronting [so necessary to life] difficult issues? Does the latter alternative mean the fearful disengagement from life’s great problems [an escape from oneself]? What is the meaning to be given, in this reflection, to such escapes? What would be their roles? What is the role of literature in the face of life’s dilemmas in contemporary times? The above-mentioned questions are addressed with notes for reading and reflection. A text that arises from our concerns about the imprisonments instituted by the Western way of life, as well as its consequences [in addition to socio-environmental injustices, violence of all kinds and inequalities]: loneliness and loss of meaning in life.