“What happens to us as we gaze upon the abyss and as it gazes back upon us?” This question, inspired by Nietzsche and asked by An Yountae in his conclusion, could summarize the whole project of this book. The abyss, as “a space replete with potential” that “nurtures a sense of possibility,” becomes the subject of a transdisciplinary investigation in the fields of theology, philosophy, and (de)colonial politics. The merit of this book lies not only in its thorough examination of the abyss as a multidimensional concept grounded in Neoplatonic mysticism, Hegelian dialectics, and Afro-Caribbean philosophy, but also in its ambitious claim that the abyss can be used as a relevant trope to describe and rethink selfhood in the context of (post/neo)colonialism. An Yountae’s reconstruction of the figure of the abyss is organized in five chapters.
Chapter One provides some introductory material in the form of definitions of the abyss in different contexts. An Yountae outlines the “polysemic nature” of the concept, which carries both meanings of indeterminacy and creative potentiality. Building on questions raised by Martinican thinkers Franz Fanon and Edouard Glissant, the author questions the possibility of selfhood in the post-traumatic context of a political and historical abyss. He then reviews philosophical and critical theories used in the volume, notably from critical cosmopolitanism and (post/de)colonial thought.
Chapter Two investigates the notion of the abyss from its inception in Neoplatonic philosophy with Plato and Plotinus to its further developments in the medieval mysticism of Dionysius and Meister Eckhart. This close theoretical examination reveals three main features: the unspeakable dimension of the experience of encounter with the abyss, the intersection of finitude and infinitude in its irremediable gap, and the embracing of its groundlessness, which leads to the dispossession of the self on both human and divine sides. Engaging with the view of contemporary philosophers, notably Slavoj Žižek, An Yountae identifies a trace of relationality in the mystical abyss that hints at its ethical potential.
In Chapter Three, An Yountae examines the ethico-political questions raised by the abyss. He starts by investigating how the concept was elaborated in German idealism, namely by Jakob Boehme and Friedrich Schelling, around the notion of groundlessness as a step toward Hegelian dialectic. In his reading of Hegel, the author considers the abyss as a key structuring yet underdeveloped concept, involved in the becoming of (self)consciousness and the passage from the negative to the positive, which turns groundlessness into a new possibility of self-reconstruction. An Yountae enriches his analysis with Žižek’s and Butler’s readings of Hegel, opening the abyss to ethico-political resistance and engagement.
In Chapter Four, probably the most relevant for postcolonial studies, the author extends his approach to the historical and political meanings by constructing a “repoliticized” abyss around the notion of the “suffering other” and the relational understanding of identity. In the works of Glissant, Fanon, and Césaire, An Yountae reads the colonial abyss as “the impasse of colonial difference” and the “ontological groundlessness” from which the Caribbean consciousness frames a possibility of reconstruction. This possibility of “passage” is then explored in Glissant’s philosophy of creolization, which turns the experience of colonial trauma into a relational ontology opened to becoming.
In Chapter Five, An Yountae reads Glissant’s poetics of resistance or “counterpoetics” alongside the theopoetics of philosophical theologians including Richard Kearney and Catherine Keller. He argues that poetics in the colonial abyss provides a political instrument that opens theological possibilities of reconstruction around the notions of becoming and relationality. He finally shows that (theo)poetics connects with cosmopolitics, and he entertains the possibility of connecting the name of the divine with the realm of political struggle to frame a ground on which one could construct a decolonized cosmopolitan future.
An Yountae’s book provides a thought-provoking reading of the abyss that would certainly arouse further interest in the field of postcolonial studies and beyond. Although the practical application of the “decolonial abyss” remains unclear, and its poetic meaning requires probably more development in literature, this book still provides an original and generous contribution to the field. An Yountae shows that the reconstruction of the postcolonial self requires a wide range of intellectual tools and a thorough investigation that bears in mind the possibilities provided by theology and philosophy in the era of globalization.
