Conceptions of the Absurd: From Surrealism to Chestov's and Fondane's Existential Thought

ISBN-13: 9781900755474 / Angielski / Miękka / 2001 / 259 str.

Ramona Fotiade

Opis

The concept of the Absurd was a source of fascination for artists and intellectuals throughout the twentieth century. Two interpretations in particular were to provide major reference points for French writers in the 1920s and 1930s: the Surrealist 'free functioning of thought', and the existential critique of rational discourse elaborated by LEon Chestov (1866-1938) and Benjamin Fondane (1898-1944). In this highly original study, Fotiade examines the less familiar existential line, and shows that Chestov and Fondane's project found support and illustration in the force-field of the Surrealist movement. The work of such dissident writers as Antonin Artaud, Roger Gilbert-Lecomte and RenE Daumal takes on entirely new meanings when considered in this wider intellectual context.

Spis treści

Acknowledgements, Note on References, Introduction, 1 Places in the Mind: Self-Evidence and Consciousness of Self, 2 The Powerless Subject: Forms of Negative Reconstruction, 3 Time and History: Forms of Temporal Existence, 4 Individual Choice and Freedom: Between the Categorical Imperative and the Suspension of the Ethical, Conclusions, Bibliography, Index

O autorze

Fotiade, Romona