Philosophy As Fiction: Self, Deception, and Knowledge in ProustOxford University Press, 19 ago 2004 - 266 pagine Philosophy as Fiction seeks to account for the peculiar power of philosophical literature by taking as its case study the paradigmatic generic hybrid of the twentieth century, Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time. At once philosophical--in that it presents claims, and even deploys arguments concerning such traditionally philosophical issues as knowledge, self-deception, selfhood, love, friendship, and art--and literary, in that its situations are imaginary and its stylization inescapably prominent, Proust's novel presents us with a conundrum. How should it be read? Can the two discursive structures co-exist, or must philosophy inevitably undermine literature (by sapping the narrative of its vitality) and literature undermine philosophy (by placing its claims in the mouth of an often unreliable narrator)? In the case of Proust at least, the result is greater than the sum of its parts. Not only can a coherent, distinctive philosophical system be extracted from the Recherche, once the narrator's periodic waywardness is taken into account; not only does a powerfully original style pervade its every nook, overtly reinforcing some theories and covertly exemplifying others; but aspects of the philosophy also serve literary ends, contributing more to character than to conceptual framework. What is more, aspects of the aesthetics serve philosophical ends, enabling a reader to engage in an active manner with an alternative art of living. Unlike the "essay" Proust might have written, his novel grants us the opportunity to use it as a practice ground for cooperation among our faculties, for the careful sifting of memories, for the complex procedures involved in self-fashioning, and for the related art of self-deception. It is only because the narrator's insights do not always add up--a weakness, so long as one treats the novel as a straightforward treatise--that it can produce its training effect, a feature that turns out to be its ultimate strength. |
Sommario
LITERATURE | |
Perspective Marcels Steeples | |
SelfDeception Albertines Kimono | |
SOLUTIONS | |
Style Prousts Sentences | |
Appendix | |
Notes | |
Bibliography | |
Altre edizioni - Visualizza tutto
Philosophy As Fiction: Self, Deception, and Knowledge in Proust Joshua Landy Anteprima limitata - 2009 |
Philosophy As Fiction: Self, Deception, and Knowledge in Proust Joshua Landy Anteprima limitata - 2004 |
Parole e frasi comuni
aesthetic Albertine Albertine’s Alexander Nehamas Andrée artist autobiography Balbec believe Bergotte Bersani Bois de Boulogne chapter character Charlus claim Combray Contre SainteBeuve Deleuze Descombes desire diachronic Elstir emphasis episode essence example existence experience fact feel fictional Genette Gérard Genette Gilberte Gilles Deleuze Guermantes homosexual human hypothesis idea illusion images imagination impression individual intellect intuition involuntary memory jealousy Jean Santeuil kimono laws literary madeleine Magic Lantern Marcel Proust Martinville steeples matinée merely metaphors metonymic metonyphor mind Mlle Morel narrative narrator narrator’s Nehamas never Nietzsche Nietzsche’s O’Brien objective truth Odette oeuvre one’s optical illusions passage perhaps person perspective philosophy prose poem protagonist Proust’s novel Proustian Rachel reader reading reality reason recherche du temps SaintLoup seems sentence Shattuck subjective Swann temps perdu theory things Trans translation true Vincent Descombes Vinteuil woman writes