The Art of Life (PDF)

In our individualized society we are all artists of life -
whether we know it or not, will it or not and like it or not, by
decree of society if not by our own choice. In this society we are
all expected, rightly or wrongly, to give our lives purpose and
form by using our own skills and resources, even if we lack the
tools and materials with which artists' studios need to be
equipped for the artist's work to be conceived and executed.
And we are praised or censured for the results - for what we
have managed or failed to accomplish and for what we have achieved
and lost.

In our liquid modern society we are also taught to believe that the
purpose of the art of life should be and can be happiness -
though it's not clear what happiness is, the images of a
happy state keep changing and the state of happiness remains most
of the time something yet-to-be-reached.

This new book by Zygmunt Bauman - one of the most original
and influential social thinkers writing today - is not a book
of designs for the art of life nor a 'how to' book: the
construction of a design for life and the way it is pursued is and
cannot but be an individual responsibility and individual
accomplishment. It is instead a brilliant account of conditions
under which our designs-for-life are chosen, of the constraints
that might be imposed on their choice and of the interplay of
design, accident and character that shape their implementation.
Last but not least, it is a study of the ways in which our society
- the liquid modern, individualized society of consumers
- influences (but does not determine) the way we construct
and narrate our life trajectories.