Anxiety is not weakness. Depression is not laziness. Anger, sadness and affliction are not disorders of which we should be ashamed. In this work, existentialist philosopher Mariana Alessandri questions the dominant view that drives us to want to correct, overcome or heal our “dark” emotions. In the face of ancient classical philosophy, modern psychology and a certain toxic optimism, Alessandri vindicates the dignity and humanity of the dark side of our emotional spectrum.

Through the stories of prominent existentialist thinkers who dared to “enter the cavern” of their own dark emotions -Audre Lorde, Maria Lugones, Unamuno, C. S. Lewis, bell hooks, Gloria Anzaldúa and Kierkegaard- Alessandri shows us that what under the light seems broken, in the dark reveals our full humanity. He won't ask you to love your affliction, but he will help you understand that dark emotions hold within them deep truths about ourselves.

Night Vision is a brave and provocative work, inviting us to turn out the lights and leave behind the forced smile, to abandon our fear of the dark, to discover what only our dark emotions can teach us.