Figural Space

Semiotics and the Aesthetic Imaginary

William D. Melaney (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

204 Seiten

2021
Rowman & Littlefield (Verlag)
978-1-5381-4785-6 (ISBN)

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This study provides a philosophical overview of select classics of Renaissance to contemporary literature to show how the notion of figural space is crucial to assessing the ethical and political aspects of literary study.

This book is concerned with the continuing viability of both Freud and Hegel to the reading of modern literature. The book begins with Julia Kristeva’s attempts to relate Hegelian thought to a psychoanalytically informed conception of semiotics that was first explored in her influential study, The Revolution of Poetic Language, and then modified in later books that develop semiotics in new directions. Kristeva’s agreements and disagreement with Hegel are important to the book’s argument, which ultimately defends Hegel against familiar, poststructuralist detractions. However, the book’s conceptual argument requires a historical exposition, with chapters devoted to literary figures ranging from Spenser to Ishiguro. One of the purposes of the book is to demonstrate that Hegel’s contribution to modern thought is at least partially exhibited in the history of literature, which also corroborates some of the deeper insights of psychoanalysis.

William D. Melaney is professor of English and comparative literature at the American University, Cairo. His research is interdisciplinary and embraces philosophy, literary studies, aesthetics and social thought. He has previously published numerous articles and three books on Continental philosophy and the problem of cultural modernity.

Introduction: An Opening of Figural Space

1. Kristeva and Hegel:
Subjectivity Reconfigured

2. Spenser's Renaissance:
Ideality and Discourse

3. Image in Wordsworth:
Space/Time and Semiotics

4. Shelley's Double Vision:
Figural Counter-Worlds

5. Proust and Aesthetics:
A Narrative Sensibility

6. Space in Blanchot:
Orphic Testimonies

7. H.D. and Life Writing:
A Logos of Difference

8. Revisiting Jean Rhys:
Postcolonial Ethics

9. Ishiguro's Imaginary:
Figures of History

Conclusion: Negotiating the Figural

Index

Erscheinungsdatum	10.05.2021
Reihe/Serie	Global Aesthetic Research
Sprache	englisch
Maße	164 x 228 mm
Gewicht	490 g
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Philosophie ► Erkenntnistheorie / Wissenschaftstheorie
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Psychologie ► Psychoanalyse / Tiefenpsychologie
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Anglistik / Amerikanistik
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Literaturwissenschaft
	Sozialwissenschaften
ISBN-10	1-5381-4785-8 / 1538147858
ISBN-13	978-1-5381-4785-6 / 9781538147856
Zustand	Neuware