Flash Lecture / Henri Otsing “The Invention of Escapism” x Tartu Uus Teater Additional Programme

The flash lecture is part of the additional programme for Tartu Uus Teater’s production “Where Do I Go When There’s Nowhere Left to Go?” Throughout history, people have sometimes wanted to flee from other people and from themselves. But it was only in the early modern period, when a society to flee from was invented, that the idea of escapism was invented too. The term “escapism” would not appear for another couple of centuries. The flash lecture sketches the history of the idea of escapism, leading from Rousseau to TikTok. In doing so, it asks whether the escapist flees from freedom or towards it. Henri Otsing is a doctoral student in intellectual history at the University of Tartu, whose research focuses on early modern natural law. Read more