DOCSLIB.ORG

The Healing Practices of Language: How Life Matters in Antonin Artaud’S Later Writings

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Healing Practices of Language: How Life Matters in Antonin Artaud’S Later Writings The Healing Practices Of Language: How Life Matters In Antonin Artaud’s Later Writings Les Pratiques Guérisseuses Du Langage: Comment La Vie Se Manifeste Dans Les Derniers Écrits d’Antonin Artaud (avec un résumé en français) De Helende Werking Van Taal: Hoe Het Leven Zich Manifesteert In Het Latere Werk Van Antonin Artaud (met een samenvatting in het Nederlands) Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit Utrecht op gezag van de rector magnificus, prof.dr. H.R.B.M. Kummeling, ingevolge het besluit van het college voor promoties in het openbaar te verdedigen op woensdag 15 mei 2019 des middags te 12.45 uur door Joeri Visser geboren op 7 oktober 1986 te Rotterdam Promotor: Prof. dr. R. Braidotti Copromotor: Dr. R. Dolphijn [T]here is life to live / that is all / […] I want to live / I will never / again, under / any pretext / whatsoever / pretend / to live / I do not want to / simulate a feeling / I want to live it.i Antonin Artaud – Notebook 287, CI, p. 794 Life is not a stationary state – it is only worthy to the extent that it changes ii Antonin Artaud – Notebook 326, CI, p. 1433 “When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less.” “The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean different things.” “The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master – that’s all.” Lewis Carroll – Through the looking glass, p. 223 Acknowledgments On a sultry summer day, Alice was sitting with her sister on a riverbank while she got tired and bored of the book her sister was reading, for it had no pictures or conversations in it. Suddenly, a white rabbit ran by close to her, nervously saying to itself “Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be late” (Carroll, 38). Filled with curiosity, Alice decided to follow the rabbit she suddenly saw popping down the rabbit hole under a hedge. Fascinated by this agitated white rabbit, she went after it and discovered that the rabbit hole was like a tunnel that ended in a deep well. In the adventurous story that follows, Alice discovers Wonderland; a world that she has never seen before, neither in the outside world nor in the books: a world that oscillates between a sweet dream and a dark nightmare. In the beginning of October 2010, my curiosity and fascination were caught in a similar way by a strange figure during the course ‘Corps, Affect, Écriture,’ taught by Évelyne Grossman, that I followed at University Paris VII. This strange figure, that invigorated me in the same way as the white rabbit did with Alice, was Antonin Artaud who did not stop running agitatedly across the fields of my mind. Seeing, listening to, but above all, reading Artaud is an uncanny experience that is scary and yet fascinating; obscure and yet brilliantly obvious; abhorring and yet addictive. For this reason, I decided to follow this white rabbit by writing an essay on him, then a dissertation and finally starting a PhD research on his works. The world I thusly discovered down the rabbit hole, was a world of enormous potentialities, vital forces and exciting energies of both body and mind, that I did not know before; a wonderful, fascinating and intense world that was, at some dreary moments, also a world of despair, solitude and elusiveness. It has been a challenge to write a PhD thesis on the role of language in Artaud’s later works and I would have been stuck or got lost down the rabbit hole without the help of many people. First of all, I have found a lot of inspiration, new perspectives and different ideas by engaging in conversations with many students, scholars and professors I have met during the years I studied, worked and taught at Utrecht University. Even if we did not always speak on Artaud, it was quite often along with or around Artaud that we spoke. Writing a PhD thesis on Artaud has also meant conducting a research that has always been there in my mind; during dates with friends, birthdays or holidays. Discussing the works of Artaud with my friends sometimes ended up in a one-sided monologue that nevertheless helped me to structure my thinking, reformulate the core of my PhD research and essay the strength and logic of my arguments. For this reason I want to thank Marleen, Monique, Suzanne, Nicky, Wouter, Frank, Kelly, Jeroen, Anne, Iris, Amber, Alexander and Erik (and I surely forgot to mention many others) for letting me share my monologues with them. My students and pupils in both university and in secondary education have sometimes been confronted or bored with topics on, or closely related to, the works of Artaud. The debates and discussions that we have had on some theories, views or perspectives were creative, refreshing and helpful to this PhD research but they mainly helped me to keep my feet on the ground. Doing research on Artaud can, now and then, be an invitation to follow the white rabbit too enthusiastically down the rabbit hole, but my students and pupils have unknowingly pulled me out of this labyrinthine rabbit hole under the hedge. During my PhD research, I have always continued to teach in secondary education, the university, and I have been involved in different projects and working groups concerning education. The pressure and the time-consuming energy of this work have, at times, allured me to think of stopping this research on Artaud. I want to thank everyone who has been involved in the process of writing this PhD thesis; my promotor Rosi Braidotti for always believing in this research and especially my copromotor Rick Dolphijn for always encouraging me by saying: “There is no way back.” I want to thank you for your critical reading of my work, the opportunities you gave me for teaching at Utrecht University, for publishing my translations of Michel Serres and, most importantly, for always keeping me on track. A research on Artaud is difficult to summarize in five minutes and can be, for that reason, a solipsistic challenge. Even if my parents and sister were always interested in my activities, and although I have never really elaborately shared my thinking, writing and research with them, I nevertheless want to thank them for the unconditional support and, first and foremost, for never having frustrated the things that I have passionately, but sometimes so solitarily, done. Finally, I want to thank my future wife Sanne for the support, patience and respect that she has had for my research. In the final months, Artaud has almost daily been in every room of the house. Despite the fact that another man (an obscure figure to her) was here for quite a while, you have always respected his presence and yet still supported me in finishing my research. A PhD research on the writings of Artaud is never finished but is neither a constant popping down the rabbit hole to wander in an exciting world. Conducting research on Artaud, on the contrary, also means to listen carefully to the instruction of his words: Artaud considered his later notebooks not as pages to study but rather as tools. Finishing my PhD thesis is not to stop following the white rabbit but is nevertheless an invitation to follow, at the same time, Artaud’s practical words as passionately as I conducted my research: “there is life to live / that is all”iii (CI, 794). Table Of Contents Notes On The Translation And The Abbreviations .......................11 Writing For A People To Come. Or, Looking For An Intercessor .............................................................................................................18 Artaud: A Life In Language. Or, What Comes With Language? 24 The Enchantment Of Marseille ...................................................24 A Violent Loss Of Life ................................................................27 Reading The Writings Of A Madman .........................................34 The Oppression Of The Body .....................................................39 The Paradoxes Of Advanced Capitalism ....................................43 A Schizoanalytic Reading Of New Materialism .........................46 Still Relevant Forces At Work ....................................................51 I. The Healing Practices Of Language. On Flesh, Mind And Expression ..........................................................................................54 Do We Know What The Body Can Do? .....................................54 Articulating The Flexional Singularity Of The Body .................56 To Believe In This World ............................................................60 The Dance Of The Flesh .............................................................65 The Articulation Of A Vital Body ...............................................67 The Exploration Of The Infra-Sense Of The Body .....................71 The Vitality Of The Flesh ...........................................................74 A Commitment To Life ...............................................................78 The Healing Powers Of The Flesh ..............................................81 In Praise Of A Madman ..............................................................86 An Enterprise Of Health ..............................................................90 II. A Zoology Of Language. On The Disorder Of Language And Artaud’s Poetics .................................................................................95 The Outside Of Language ...........................................................95 8 A Cynical Reading Of Spinoza ...................................................98
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Theatre of the Absurd : Its Themes and Form
    THE THEATRE OF THE ABSURD: ITS THEMES AND FORM by LETITIA SKINNER DACE A. B., Sweet Briar College, 1963 A MASTER'S THESIS submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree MASTER OF ARTS Department of Speech KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY Manhattan, Kansas 1967 Approved by: c40teA***u7fQU(( rfi" Major Professor il PREFACE Contemporary dramatic literature is often discussed with the aid of descriptive terms ending in "ism." Anthologies frequently arrange plays under such categories as expressionism, surrealism, realism, and naturalism. Critics use these designations to praise and to condemn, to denote style and to suggest content, to describe a consistent tone in an author's entire ouvre and to dissect diverse tendencies within a single play. Such labels should never be pasted to a play or cemented even to a single scene, since they may thus stifle the creative imagi- nation of the director, actor, or designer, discourage thorough analysis by the thoughtful viewer or reader, and distort the complex impact of the work by suppressing whatever subtleties may seem in conflict with the label. At their worst, these terms confine further investigation of a work of art, or even tempt the critic into a ludicrous attempt to squeeze and squash a rounded play into a square pigeon-hole. But, at their best, such terms help to elucidate theme and illuminate style. Recently the theatre public's attention has been called to a group of avant - garde plays whose philosophical propensities and dramatic conventions have been subsumed under the title "theatre of the absurd." This label describes the profoundly pessimistic world view of play- wrights whose work is frequently hilarious theatre, but who appear to despair at the futility and irrationality of life and the inevitability of death.
    [Show full text]
  • Succubations & Incubations
    SUCCUBATIONS & INCUBATIONS SELECTED LETTERS O F ANTONIN ARTAUD (1945-1947) by ANTONIN ARTAUD 1 2 3 SUCCUBATIONS & INCUBATIONS SELECTED LETTERS O F ANTONIN ARTAUD (1945-1947) INFINITY LAND PRESS 4 SUCCUBATIONS & INCUBATIONS SELECTED LETTERS O F ANTONIN ARTAUD (1945-1947) Translated by Peter Valente & Cole Heinowitz with an introduction by Jay Murphy Artworks by INFINITY LAND PRESS 2020 Martin Bladh & Karolina Urbaniak www.infinitylandpress.com 978-1-9160091-4-1 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the prior permission of Infinity Land Press Ltd. Book design by Karolina Urbaniak INFINITY LAND PRESS Antonin Artaud Photograph by Denise Colomb, 1947 CONTENTS Introduction Artaud’s Will by Jay Murphy Transtators’ Note Letters Translated by Peter Valente & Cole Heinowitz Biographies INTRODUCTION by Jay Murphy Artaud writes he “was never born,” and “will never die.“ But in this exact period of missives, collected and translated by Peter Valente and Cole Heinowitz, Artaud is also overwhelmingly aware that, at least in this form of life, that he has put in question from his earliest writings, he is about to die. So this is the penumbra cast over these ‘late letters.’ Often refused opiates in the asylum for intestinal pains Artaud complained of, the doctors thinking Artaud was merely gaming for drugs, these were likely the first symptoms of the rectal cancer Artaud developed. Not told of this eventual medical diagnosis, nevertheless Artaud realized an end was near. One of Artaud’s very closest confidants, one of his filles du coeur, naître, Paule Thévenin, claimed Artaud died when and likely how he wanted.
    [Show full text]
  • Documents (Pdf)
    Documents_ 18.7 7/18/01 11:40 AM Page 212 Documents 1915 1918 Exhibition of Paintings by Cézanne, Van Gogh, Picasso, Tristan Tzara, 25 poèmes; H Arp, 10 gravures sur bois, Picabia, Braque, Desseignes, Rivera, New York, Zurich, 1918 ca. 1915/16 Flyer advertising an edition of 25 poems by Tristan Tzara Flyer with exhibition catalogue list with 10 wood engravings by Jean (Hans) Arp 1 p. (folded), 15.3x12 Illustrated, 1 p., 24x16 1916 Tristan Tzara lira de ses oeuvres et le Manifeste Dada, Autoren-Abend, Zurich, 14 July 1916 Zurich, 23 July 1918 Program for a Dada event in the Zunfthaus zur Waag Flyer announcing a soirée at Kouni & Co. Includes the 1 p., 23x29 above advertisement Illustrated, 2 pp., 24x16 Cangiullo futurista; Cafeconcerto; Alfabeto a sorpresa, Milan, August 1916 Program published by Edizioni futuriste di “Poesia,” Milan, for an event at Grand Eden – Teatro di Varietà in Naples Illustrated, 48 pp., 25.2x17.5 Pantomime futuriste di Francesco Cangiullo, Rome, 1916 Flyer advertising an event at the Club al Cantastorie 1 p., 35x50 Galerie Dada envelope, Zurich, 1916 1 p., 12x15 Stationary headed ”Mouvement Dada, Zurich,“ Zurich, ca. 1916 1 p., 14x22 Stationary headed ”Mouvement Dada, Zeltweg 83,“ Zurich, ca. 1916 Club Dada, Prospekt des Verlags Freie Strasse, Berlin, 1918 1 p., 12x15 Booklet with texts by Richard Huelsenbeck, Franz Jung, and Raoul Hausmann Mouvement Dada – Abonnement Liste, Zurich, ca. 1916 Illustrated, 16 pp., 27.1x20 Subscription form for Dada publications 1 p., 28x20.5 Centralamt der Dadaistischen Bewegung, Berlin, ca. 1918–19 1917 Stationary of Richard Huelsenbeck with heading of the Sturm Ausstellung, II Serie, Zurich, 14 April 1917 Dada Movement Central Office Catalogue of an exhibition at the Galerie Dada.
    [Show full text]
  • The Theatre of the Absurd Author(S): Martin Esslin Source: the Tulane Drama Review, Vol
    The Theatre of the Absurd Author(s): Martin Esslin Source: The Tulane Drama Review, Vol. 4, No. 4 (May, 1960), pp. 3-15 Published by: The MIT Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1124873 . Accessed: 20/11/2013 01:44 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. The MIT Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Tulane Drama Review. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 180.149.52.49 on Wed, 20 Nov 2013 01:44:56 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions The Theatre of the Absurd By MARTIN ESSLIN The plays of Samuel Beckett,Arthur Adamov, and Eugene Ionesco have been performedwith astonishingsuccess in France,Germany, Scan- dinavia, and the English-speakingcountries. This reception is all the more puzzling when one considersthat the audiences concerned were amused by and applauded these plays fullyaware that they could not understandwhat theymeant or what theirauthors were drivingat. At firstsight these plays do, indeed, confronttheir public with a be- wilderingexperience, a veritablebarrage of wildlyirrational, often non- sensical goings-onthat seem to go counter to all accepted standardsof stage convention.In these plays,some of which are labeled "anti-plays," neitherthe timenor the place of the action are everclearly stated.
    [Show full text]
  • BECKETT Waiting for Godot
    BECKETT Waiting for Godot * DAVID BRADBY Royal Holloway, University of London PUBLISHED BY THE PRESS SYNDICATE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK 40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011–4211, USA 477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, VIC 3207, Australia Ruiz de Alarco´n 13, 28014 Madrid, Spain Dock House, The Waterfront, Cape Town 8001, South Africa http://www.cambridge.org C Cambridge University Press 2001 This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2001 Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge Typeface 10.75/14 pt. Adobe Garamond System LATEX2ε [TB] A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data Bradby, David. Beckett, Waiting for Godot / David Bradby. p. cm. – (Plays in production) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0 521 59429 4 – ISBN 0 521 59510 X (pbk.) 1. Beckett, Samuel, 1906–. En attendant Godot. 2. Beckett, Samuel, 1906– – Dramatic production. 3. Beckett, Samuel, 1906– – Stage history. I. Title: Beckett. II. Title. III. Series. PQ2603.E378 E62 2001 842’.914–dc21 2001035591 ISBN 0 521 59429 4 hardback ISBN 0 521 59510 X paperback CONTENTS List of illustrations page viii General preface xi Acknowledgements xii Introduction 1 1 Beckett before Waiting for Godot 11 2 Waiting for Godot – the play 24 3 The first production: The´atreˆ de Babylone, Paris, January 1953, directed by Roger Blin 45 4 The first productions in English 67 5 Early productions in the United States 86 6 Beckett’s own production: Schiller-Theater, Berlin, March 1975 106 7 ‘Fail again.
    [Show full text]
  • Postmodern Canons and De-Canonizing Function of Performance
    Postmodern Openings ISSN: 2068-0236 | e-ISSN: 2069-9387 Covered in: Web of Sciences (WOS); EBSCO; ERIH+; Google Scholar; Index Copernicus; Ideas RePeC; Econpapers; Socionet; CEEOL; Ulrich ProQuest; Cabell, Journalseek; Scipio; Philpapers; SHERPA/RoMEO repositories; KVK; WorldCat; CrossRef; CrossCheck 2019, Volume 10, Issue 3, pages: 86-101 | doi:10.18662/po/83 Abstract: This study attempts to investigate the process of canonization that Ionesco‟s initial play went through by Postmodern Canons means of Martin Esslin‟s famous work of theater criticism that labeled the unknown plays of the 50‟s “absurd”. The and De-canonizing present study argues that Esslin‟s attempt to canonize these Function of plays under the label of The Theater of the Absurd did not do justice to the ethical perspectives that these plays set forth. My Performance contribution to this topic will be focusing on a postmodern performance by Jean-Luc Lagarce to try to elucidate how his Bahee HADAEGH1, performance of The Bald Soprano challenged the pre-judged Milad PASHAEI2 attitude of the audience through challenging the previously established beliefs concerning the Theater of the Absurd. 1 Assistant Prof., Shiraz University, The semiotics as the study of the way meaning is created will Shiraz, Iran, be drawn on. In The Semiotics of Theater, Erika Fischer- [email protected] Lichte outlines the internal theatrical code at three different 2 M.A. Graduate, Shiraz University, levels of system, norm and speech. Here, the emphasis will be Shiraz, Iran, on speech to illuminate the staging by Lagarce and explain [email protected] how a classic work precipitates postmodern production from within the established canon.
    [Show full text]
  • Dada in Context
    Dada in Context Professeur émérite Henri Béhar Université de la Sorbonne-Nouvelle, Paris III The superb Dada exhibition held at the Pompidou Centre in 2005 (and after in Washington) inspired a large number of publications that I would like to go over and discuss here. In the preface to his recent illustrated guide, Gérard Durozoi states that ”Rebellious avant-garde movements challenge the notion of progress, concerning themselves more with meaning than with form. They consider that their potential for subversion cannot be reduced to a narrowly political engagement, which may indeed involve certain individuals, but not the movement as a whole, and that from this point of view the misfortunes of surrealism should provide a clear warning”.1 Following the example of Isidore Ducasse, we could reverse each of these propositions and find them equally apt. If we consider merely the overall thrust of the assertion, we find that this critic contrasts an apolitical Dadaist movement with the tendency of early Surrealism (after Futurism) to engage firmly in politics during its “période raisonnante”. This view would give us, on the one hand, a pure white dove (or almost pure, subject to the removal of a few elements, contaminated by politics in individual cases, free from any form of engagement), and, on the other hand, an impure group, permanently compromised by a youthful error, its involvement with the Communist Party. New Revisionism Is Here! Obviously, the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 functions as a cut-off point here: any art which in some way made its compromises with Marxism and/or with the Soviet regime is henceforth doomed to oblivion, denied the right to exist.
    [Show full text]
  • ISBN: 978-4-9909155-0-6 Performance Studies International
    ISBN: 978-4-9909155-0-6 Performance Studies international Fluid States 2015 Tohoku, Japan Beyond Contamination: Corporeality, Spirituality, and Pilgrimage in Northern Japan Select conference proceedings Beyond Contamination: Corporeality, Spirituality, and Pilgrimage in Northern Japan 28 August 2015 (Pre-event, trip to Mt Osore), 29 August -1 September, 2015, Aomori, Japan. Host organizations: Keio University Art Centre Aomori Museum of Art 1 Editor: Peter Eckersall Editorial Board: Hayato Kosuge/ Takashi Morishita / Yu Homma / Katherine Mezur / Peter Eckersall / Kim Kyueun/ Rina Otani Copyright © 2016 by the Keio University Art Center(KUAC). Permission to make digital or hard copies of portions of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that the copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than KUAC must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. Published by 慶應義塾⼤学アート・センター 108-8345 東京都港区三⽥ 2-15-45 電話 03-5427-1621 Fax 03-5427-1620 Keio University Art Center 2-15-45, Mita, Minato-ku, Tokyo, 108-8345, Japan Tel. +81-(0)3-5427-1621 Fax. +81-(0)3-5427-1620 Published on 25 July 2016 ISBN 978-4-9909155-0-6 2 Preface PSi Fluid States 2015 Tohoku, Japan was held in Aomori from 28 August to 1 September 2015. The title of the conference was: ’Beyond Contamination: Corporeality, Spirituality, and Pilgrimage in Northern Japan’. Excerpts from the Call for Papers (following) elaborate on the conferendce themes.
    [Show full text]
  • The Printed French Revolution Collections in the British Library 31 by Des Mcternan
    ISSN 2045-0982 French Studies Library Group Annual Review Issue 6 (2009-10) http://fslg.libr.port.ac.uk/ 1 French Studies Library Group Annual Review Issue 6 (2009-10) Editor Sarah Brain Subject Librarian: Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies, University of the West of England Frenchay Campus Coldharbour Lane Bristol BS16 1QY With thanks to Teresa Vernon for Email: [email protected] additional editorial input. The FSLG Annual Review is an annual publication, produced for the members of the French Studies Library Group. The aims of the Group are: To act as a focus for librarians and others concerned with the provision of library resources and services in French studies. To facilitate cooperation in the provision, access, promotion and preservation of French printed and electronic resources. To provide a forum for the dissemination of information on these topics between libraries and the scholarly user community. To liaise with related library groups. Membership Membership is open to any person or institution with an interest in the aims of the Group. To apply for membership please fill in the form at http://fslg.libr.port.ac.uk/fslg-application-form.pdf. Annual membership costs £15 (retired members £10). Notes for contributors Contributions to future issues of the Annual Review are always welcome. Submissions should be preferably in electronic form (Word or rich text format (RTF)). Please send them to Sarah Brain at the above address. PLEASE NOTE: Copyright in this publication rests with the Group, but the views expressed in it are those of the contributors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Group.
    [Show full text]
  • Theatre of Arthur Adamov
    Durham E-Theses Neurosis and commitment in the theatre of Arthur Adamov Moss, Susan Lesley How to cite: Moss, Susan Lesley (1980) Neurosis and commitment in the theatre of Arthur Adamov, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/7528/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk Susan Lesley Moss Neurosis and Commitment in the Theatre of Arthur Adamov. M.A. Thesis, I98O. Abstract of the Thesis The present study is intended to trace consistencies in the work of Arthur Adamov, and to refute critical opinion that he underwent a Marxist conversion in the middle of his career which divided his plays into distinct, dissimilar categories. The areas of consideration are : neurosis in the private life of the author, and its repercuss• ions upon his plays, and the v/ay in which neurosis can be linked to social commitment in the lives of Adamov and of his characters.
    [Show full text]
  • Existentialism As Literature
    Existentialism as Literature Jeff Malpas – Tasmania To what extent does existentialism constitute itself as a literary rather than a primarily philosophical phenomenon? Or, to put a slightly different, but related question: what form does existentialism take when it is viewed as literature rather than as philosophy? Such questions arise as a fairly direct consequence of the fact that a number of key existentialist works (or works that have generally been regarded as such) have indeed been works of literature – Jean-Paul Sartre’s Nausea (La Nausée, 19381) and Albert Camus’ The Outsider (L’Étranger, 1939) being two excellent examples – while some of the key figures within or close to the existentialist tradition have been literary rather than philosophical – arguably this is true of Camus, and certainly of Beckett. Rather than simply provide an exploration of existentialism in literature, or a survey of those literary works that figure within existentialism, this essay will also examine the idea of existentialism as literature – sketching a picture of existentialism as it emerges in literary, rather than solely philosophical terms. Although it is sometimes argued that existentialism stands in a special relationship to literature – that it is an especially ‘literary’ mode of philosophising – David E. Cooper argues that over-reliance on existentialist fiction has actually been a source of misconceptions about existentialism. Refusing to include Camus among the existentialists, or to allow that he 1 might be a philosopher, Cooper claims that “existentialism…is not a mood or a vocabulary, but a relatively systematic philosophy.”2 I am less persuaded than Cooper by the idea of existentialism as a “systematic philosophy” (if there is anything that is systematic in existentialism, then it is, it seems to me, just phenomenology3), and much more inclined to view existentialist literature as providing an important means of access to existentialist thinking or, at least, to what has to be viewed as a form of such thinking.
    [Show full text]
  • GERALD PRINCE (August 2020)
    - GERALD PRINCE (August 2020) Department of Romance Languages 521 Williams Hall University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305 [email protected] Fax: (215) 898-0933 Tel: (215) 898-8458 EDUCATION: B. A., magna cum laude, Brooklyn College, 1963 M. A., University of Florida, 1963 Ph. D., Brown University, 1968 FACULTY APPOINTMENTS: 1993-1998 Lois and Jerry Magnin Family Term Professor 1981- Professor of Romance Languages, U. of Pennsylvania 1973-81 Assoc. Prof. of Rom. Langs., U. of Pennsylvania 1968-73 Asst. Prof. of Rom. Langs., U. of Pennsylvania 1967-68 Instructor in French, U. of Pennsylvania 1993-pres. Member, Graduate Group in Linguistics, U. of Pennsylvania 1983-1998 Member, Graduate Group in Folklore, U. of Pennsylvania 1979-pres. Member, Graduate Group in Comp. Lit. and Lit. Theory, U. of Pennsylvania 1979-pres. Associate Faculty, Annenberg School, U. of Pennsylvania Sum 2013 Institut d'Etudes Françaises d'Avignon, Bryn Mawr College Fall 2005 Directeur d’Etudes invité, EHESS (Paris) Sum. 2005 Institut d’Etudes Françaises d’Avignon, Bryn Mawr College Sum. 2004 Institut d’Etudes Françaises d’Avignon, Bryn Mawr College Sum. 2003 Institut d’Etudes Françaises d’Avignon, Bryn Mawr College Sum. 2001 Institut d'Etudes Françaises d'Avignon, Bryn Mawr College Sum. 2000 Institute for American Universities--Avignon Sum. 1997 Institut d'Etudes Françaises d'Avignon, Bryn Mawr College May 1995 Visiting Professor, Universita' Degli Studi di Trento Sum. 1994 Institut d’Etudes Françaises d’Avignon, Bryn Mawr College Sum. 1991 Institut d’Etudes Françaises d’Avignon, Bryn Mawr College Fall 1990 Visiting Professor, Emory University Sum.
    [Show full text]