Homo Irrealis Essays

In Homo Irrealis, the New York Times bestselling author of Call Me by Your Name explores the concept of the 'irrealis mood'—a linguistic state used to describe what might have happened, what could happen, but what has not happened yet. Through a series of meditative essays, André Aciman reflects on the human tendency to inhabit the world of the possible rather than the actual. He delves into the works of creative icons such as Sigmund Freud, Cavafy, W. G. Sebald, Marcel Proust, and Eric Rohmer, while revisiting the streets of New York, Rome, and Alexandria. Aciman examines how memory and imagination blur the lines of time, creating a profound portrait of the 'might-have-been' and the 'not-yet' that defines our emotional lives.

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