The seriousness of play: Johan Huizinga’s Homo Ludens and the demise of the play-element

ABSTRACT

This essay argues that a modern shift towards an institutionalisation of the division between play and seriousness is reflected in a conceptual division more generally between these two concepts. As the play-element is foundational to culture, and indeed to the preservation of life more generally, the implications of this conceptual divorce are not to be underestimated. When the once playful spheres of democratic politics, war and international relations morph into pure seriousness, barbarism and naked cruelty follow as natural consequences. Accordingly, I will criticise the impoverishment of a simplistic concept of play that sets itself in opposition to seriousness, whilst also criticisng the consequent development of a society that undergirds this conceptual separation.

KEYWORDS:

• Play
• Huizinga
• seriousness
• politics
• culture

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jonathan Stelzer

Jonathan Stelzer Huizinga Dutch historian, was one of the founders of modern cultural history. Written at the maturity of Huizinga's scholarly life, Homo Ludens, identifies play and the freedom of the imagination at the centre of human culture. Homo Ludens and his earlier publication, The Waning of the Middle Ages, draw on many parallel themes, and remain his best-known works.