Literary Silences in Pascal, Rousseau, and Beckett

by Elisabeth Marie Loevlie

Overview

To explore literary silence is to explore the relationships between literary texts and the silence of the ineffable. Philosophical and critical accounts tend to operate with a dualistic understanding of silence as the negative other of text. This study, however, seeks to place silence within the literary text. Central to this theoretical endeavor are thinkers like Blanchot, Derrida, Gadamer and Vattimo, and the result is a fundamental challenge to our ideas of silence and text.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199266364
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	01/29/2004
Series:	Oxford Modern Languages and Literature Monographs
Pages:	264
Product dimensions:	8.60(w) x 5.70(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

University of Oslo

Table of Contents

Introduction1. Moving towards literary silence2. Thinking literary silence - a theoretical exploration3. The behaviour of literary silence: repetition, aporia, implosion4. Literary silence in Pascal's Pensées5. Literary silence in Rousseau's RêveriesInterlude: From Rousseau to Beckett - the opening of the 'third mode' of language6. Literary silence in Beckett's trilogyConclusionBibliography