File spoon-archives/blanchot.archive/blanchot_2000/blanchot.0003, message 16


From: "john.simms" <john.simms-AT-wanadoo.fr>
Subject: Re: MB: RE:Death's Space reading
Date: Fri, 17 Mar 2000 19:47:53 +0100



----- Original Message -----
From: Linda M. Steer <bg26762-AT-binghamton.edu>
To: <blanchot-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2000 4:07 PM
Subject: Re: MB: RE:Death's Space reading


> so sorry--it's that middle of the term grading phenomenon.  i'll be back
> in a week.
> linda
>
> Spaeth, Catherine wrote:
> >
> > Where'd everybody go? - Catherine
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: owner-blanchot-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
> > [mailto:owner-blanchot-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu]On Behalf Of Spaeth,
> > Catherine
> > Sent: Wednesday, March 08, 2000 10:14 AM
> > To: 'blanchot-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu'
> > Subject: RE: MB: RE:Death's Space reading
> >
> > Mike and Kevin -
> >
> > For most of us, most of the time, negative criticism is easier than
> > positive criticism.  Unlike the description of a work of art, or
> > someone, that we love negative sentiments make words comne quickly,
> > encasing that thing or that person in the skin of an ego that can be
> > kicked away. In love words well up differently.
> >         Because of the usual impatience of negative criticism, it took
> > me a while to understand Blanchot's writings on Kafka.  My own grasp of
> > this became more clear in reading "Death as Possibility".  Here, Kafka
> > is compared to the secular sovreignty of the historical individual whose
> > actions are the embodiment of moral character, good or bad.  It is a
> > figuration in which the act and the fiugure are fused together in
> > historical time in such a way that the future, after death, is decided
> > by this act and in debt to it the memory of it.But death cannot be
> > appropriated by the actions of a lifeand erected into memory in this
> > way.  It is the absolute limit where the act can no longer take place,
> > where negation cannot have the power to kick something away and stand in
> > final judgement.
> >         It is in this way that the figure of the religious icon is
> > replaced by the figure of the secular act.  Both are "in a profound
> > relation with death", making it possible, and in the latter case the
> > ultimate act of human freedom from both nature and duty.
> >         The historical character holds death at a distance by his
> > actions, and Kafka, in dying content, holds his character near to
> > himself.  Both this distancing and this grasping of death are out of
> > "the determination to establish death with freedom."
> >         While Blanchot points to Nietzsche and Heidegger mas well, it is
> > Hegel's appeasrance in this essay that is the most intriguing. In my
> > understanding of modern philosophy ("after" philosophy) it is Hegel in
> > the Philosophy of Right who describes suicide as something more than
> > stoic indifference but as that act which (PRIOR to marital consent)
> > divides human from animal life.  In this essay,k a strong whiff of Hegel
> > appears in the conviction that the relation to death that both Kafka and
> > the historical character establish is "linked to a transformation of art
> > at a time when art is not yet present to itself."  Important here is the
> > distinction between consciousness and mind - in secular suicide
> > consciousness is "that empty power to exchange itself for everything,"
> > in this case death itself.  Upon his suicide, Kirilov will have
> > "entirely annexed to his consciousness its own disappearance."
> >         In contrast to this is Hegel's life of Mind - "the life which
> > "does not shun death or keep clear of destruction, but endures its death
> > and its death maintains its being."  The suicide is the death in which
> > "there is much talk of life, but in it is not heard the unheard language
> > from which speech emerges like a new gift."
> >         All of this talk of suiucide is a description of that hinge
> > between art and life.  It is fundamentally bound to the act.  The act
> > belongs either to the world, or to the demand of the work in its refusal
> > to labor.  The former is the act which turns away from death in order to
> > grasp it, and the latter is experience.  Suicide cxuts at the limit,
> > marking the end of a life whose boundaries have been effectively closed
> > off from infinity. "I kill myself" holds its faith in this act against
> > the powerless force of being.  To be human, suicide is necessary, the
> > end must be achieved as a goal.  But for the work of art, death is its
> > origin.  It resides in the powerlessness of death, its openness to the
> > future.
> >         A final judgement DOES occur in Blanchot's essay, and as a form
> > of criticism it is not a work of art.  But important here is the sense
> > in which DESCRIPTION is so actively engaged in criticism, dismissive in
> > the end on the basis of a writing that suspends judgement in favor of
> > experience and the inertia of its arrest.
> >
> > Catherine Spaeth
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: owner-blanchot-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
> > [mailto:owner-blanchot-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu]On Behalf Of mike
> > Sent: Monday, March 06, 2000 10:33 AM
> > To: blanchot-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
> > Subject: Re: MB: RE:Death's Space reading
> >
> > Kevin:
> > Your thoughts are useful.... death has great purchase these days. From a
> > different perspective, I think of The Refusal in 'The Infinite
> > Conversation',
> > where in a footnote, Blanchot reflects on the encounter between Lazarus
> > and
> > Jesus, where Jesus 'masters' death. But is it so simple?
> > I need to read more on this, and your thoughts have been helpful.
> >
> > Also, someone quoted to me the line, 'the dead are effigies of
> > themselves'
> > (searching for source)... but it ties in with Blanchot's notion of image
> > and
> > death in Space of Literature (which I think again is in an appendix).
> > [Sorry for
> > the vagueness - working from home at the moment and text not to hand].
> > If anyone
> > can help with the analysis of this that text.... great.
> >
> > Sorry for the vagueness.... I struggle to formulate a thought on this.
> >
> > Kevin Fitzgerald wrote:
> >
> > > Linda, Catherine, Claire, Paul, Edwin, and the MB list,
> > >
> > > I have been reading and working with "The Work and Death's Space" in
> > MB's
> > > The Space of Literature. Although there are many facets of the text
> > that I
> > > have pondered, I have particularly struggled with the difference
> > between the
> > > death of Igitur and Kirilov. On one hand, Blanchot seems to be
> > partially
> > > opposed to the 'will-to-power' suicide of Kirilov. On the other hand,
> > > though, he seems to commiserate with the tenative 'suicide' of Igitur.
> > It
> > > seems like Blanchot is making a subtle distinction. However, because
> > this
> > > essay occurs with The Space of Literature, it might be difficult to
> > say that
> > > it is an ethical distinction. Perhaps Igitur's 'suicide' merely brings
> > him
> > > into contact with the impossibility of death...
> > >
> > > Kevin Fitzgerald
> > >
> > > Ps. I've written more about this here:
> > > http://www.newcollege.edu/poetics/fitzgerald/tragicIVigitur.htm
> > >
> > > **************************************
> > > ------Original Message------
> > > From: "Spaeth, Catherine" <cspaeth-AT-mgate.uvc.ohio-state.edu>
> > > To: "'blanchot-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu'"
> > > <blanchot-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu>
> > > Sent: February 29, 2000 10:01:49 PM GMT
> > > Subject: MB: RE: The Clarity of Fiction
> > >
> > > MB readers,
> > >
> > > This essay is in The Siren's Song, ed. Jospovici (Indiana, 1982).
> > >
> > > I wouldn't mind reading these two essays, Clarity of Fiction and The
> > > Work and Death's Space (nice suggestion), side by side.  Most of us
> > > probably have access to Linda's suggestion already at hand. We'll just
> > > take it from there? (Deciding how to proceed in advance seems
> > > uncomfortable to me.)
> > >
> > > Catherine Spaeth
> > >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: owner-blanchot-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
> > > [mailto:owner-blanchot-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu]On Behalf Of Linda
> > M.
> > > Steer
> > > Sent: Monday, February 28, 2000 10:15 AM
> > > To: blanchot-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
> > > Subject: Re: MB: RE: Re: reading group
> > >
> > > Hi,
> > > Sorry it has taken me so long to reply--I've been away and can't post
> > to
> > > the list from my hotmail account.
> > >
> > > "The Clarity of Fiction" sounds fine to me.  Does anyone know where it
> > > is published?
> > > Any suggestions on how to go about the discussion of it?
> > >
> > > Next, I would like to read "The Work and Death's Space" in _The Space
> > of
> > > Literature_, if anyone else is interested.
> > >
> > > thanks,
> > > Linda
> > >
> > > Spaeth, Catherine wrote:
> > > >
> > > > Paul, Edwin and Linda -
> > > >
> > > > I haven't yet gotten a response, and was wondering if we could read
> > an
> > > > essay called "The Clarity of Fiction."  It is an important essay in
> > > > relation to abstraction, I've read it once and I loved it.  Would
> > love
> > > > to read it again with others.
> > > >
> > > > Catherine Spaeth
> > > >
> > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > From: owner-blanchot-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
> > > > [mailto:owner-blanchot-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu]On Behalf Of Paul
> > > Wake
> > > > Sent: Friday, February 25, 2000 10:31 AM
> > > > To: blanchot-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
> > > > Subject: MB: Re: reading group
> > > >
> > > > Linda
> > > >
> > > > I am also interested in your proposed reading group.  I am in the
> > > first
> > > > year
> > > > of my PhD which is in English literature.  I am interested in the
> > > > (im)possibility of death as it relates to death in the modern novel.
> > > > I've
> > > > just started looking at  The Infinite Conversation but I'd be
> > > interested
> > > > in
> > > > other texts.  Please let me know what you decide to read.
> > > >
> > > > Paul Wake
> > >
> > > -----------------------------------------------
> > > FREE! The World's Best Email Address -AT-email.com
> > > Reserve your name now at http://www.email.com
> >
> > --
> > Dr Michael Purcell
> > Faculty of Divinity
> > New College,
> > University of Edinburgh
> > Mound Place,
> > EDINBURGH
> > EH1 2LX
> > Scotland
> >
> > 'phone: (+44) (0) 131. 650. 8940
> > 'phone/fax: (+44) (0) 1324. 621038 (home)
> > e-mail: M.Purcell-AT-ed.ac.uk
> > http: www.div.ed.ac.uk/purcellweb.html


   

Driftline Main Page

 

Display software: ArchTracker © Malgosia Askanas, 2000-2005