![]() Isolation and solitude flank loneliness as two related but distinct conditions. The most complicated and precise descriptions of isolation, solitude, and loneliness are offered by Hannah Arendt, in the last chapter of “ The Origins of Totalitarianism.” Loneliness, Arendt posits, is the defining condition of totalitarianism and the common ground of all terror. Those who are not self-isolating-the doctors and nurses, the delivery workers who make the self-isolation of others possible-are, for most of their waking hours, often in a state of both isolation and loneliness, because they are deprived of the ability to choose their own company. By “us,” I mean people who have the luxury of self-isolating, and the luxury of striving for solitude. For many of us during the coronavirus pandemic, self-isolation describes the extent to which we can act to protect ourselves and others, solitude describes the best we can hope for, and loneliness describes what we actually feel. ![]()
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