Singularities: Extremes of Theory in the Twentieth CenturyThe possibility of literary theory has been repeatedly put at risk by the apparently simple question 'What is a literary text?' Throughout the twentieth century the epistemological status of literature, the problem of language's claim to true representation, has challenged our received notions of ontology and being. Thus the question 'What is literature?' has frequently sponsored highly philosophical interrogations of our inherited ways of comprehending the external world. In Singularities, Thomas Pepper addresses the relationship between textuality, value, and critical difficulty. In a rich sequence of nuanced close readings of especially demanding philosophical and literary texts, Singularities addresses key moments in Adorno, Blanchot, de Man, Derrida, Foucault, Althusser, Levinas and Celan. By offering a critique of the very process of thematic reading, this book addresses the whole question of truth and being, language and value, in a series of readings of sustained critical power. |
Contents
Ode to X or the essay as monstrosity | 1 |
Guilt by unfree association Adorno on romance et al with some reference to the schlock experience | 20 |
Anamorphoses of grammar Derrida on Heidegger | 49 |
Absolute constructions an essay at Paul de Man | 88 |
Other editions - View all
Singularities: Extremes of Theory in the Twentieth Century Thomas Adam Pepper No preview available - 1997 |
Singularities: Extremes of Theory in the Twentieth Century Thomas Adam Pepper No preview available - 1997 |
Common terms and phrases
aborder Adorno Aesthetics allegory already Andrzej Warminski asserted attempt beginning Benjamin Blanchot catachresis Celan's choice cited commentary concept critical critique Derrida différance discourse discussion dream Emmanuel Levinas essay essence everything example existence fact figure Foucault Frankfurt-on-Main gesture Gogh grammatical Hegel Hegelian Heidegger Heidegger's Jacques Derrida kind language linguistic literary literature logic m'accompagnait Maelström Man's text manifestation marks Martin Heidegger matter Maurice Blanchot meaning metaphor metonymy middle voice Minima Moralia move narrative narrator necessary link necessity never object occurs parabasis paragraph Paris passage Paul Paul Celan perhaps person philosophical poem possible prosopopoeia Proust question reader reading reference relation repetition rhetoric sense sentence sequence signifier simply singular Søren Kierkegaard speaking statement story structure symbol Szondi takes place tell temporal thematic theme theory things thought topos translation tropological University verb Walter Benjamin word writing