A. van Rooden

Poésie haptique. Sur l'(ir)réalité du toucher poétique chez Jean-Luc Nancy

L’enjeu principal de l’œuvre de Nancy est d’avancer une nou¬ velle ontologie, une nouvelle philosophie premiere, qui pourrait servir comme alternative aux ontologies metaphysiques. Cette ontologie, qui ne concerne rien de plus, mais aussi rien de moins que l’existence nue des corps les uns a cote des autres, trouve sa condition de possibilite dans le sens du toucher. C’est parce que les corps touchent qu’ils sont, et en plus qu’ils sont toujours ensemble. A plusieurs reprises, Nancy suggere que la touche exemplaire serait celle de la poesie. Apres avoir esquisse plus generalement l’ontologie avancee par Nancy et son rapport avec le toucher, je me demande pourquoi ce toucher pourrait etre compris comme poetique. Dans le dernier paragraphe de ce texte, je developpe la poetique nancyenne en demontrant que la «poesie ontologique» avancee par Nancy implique un realisme radical, ce qui a mon avis est intenable.

Het gelijk van de schrijver. Willem Frederik Hermans' fictieve discussie met Jean-Paul Sartre

In discussions on the social impact of literature, literary commitment is often opposed to literary autonomy. Within the field of Dutch literature, Willem Frederik Hermans is generally understood as one of the most important representatives and supporters of literary autonomy. Jean-Paul Sartre, on the other hand, is generally considered as one of the world’s most famous representatives and supporters of committed literature. In this article, Hermans’ and Sartre’s positions, however, are not conceived of as opposite stances, but as two different ways of understanding literature’s social relevance. It will be stated that both Hermans and Sartre seek to understand the writer’s social role, but that their views are based on fundamentally different world views and, subsequently, on different ideas of historical truth. Viewed from this perspective, Hermans’ work appears to be not opposed to literary commitment but rather shows what kind of literary commitment would be possible in a world where moral realism and ideological truths are highly problematic. One of Hermans’ least discussed novels, Ik heb altijd gelijk (1951), will be considered as an exemplary manifestation of this view.

Hebben we eigenlijk nog wel iets aan poëzie? Hölderlins erfenis gewogen door Lacoue-Labarthe en Badiou

Although poetry once played an important role in shaping the community, the present day situation seems to call for another use of its powers. This, at least, is the shared assumption underlying an important discussion between Alain Badiou and Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe. In their dispute, both hark back to Holderlin’s work and its decisive role in today’s thought on poetry. Strikingly though, their interpretations of Holderlin’s key role diverge widely, since Badiou bases himself on Martin Heidegger’s interpretation of Holderlin’s poetry, whereas Lacoue-Labarthe joins that of Walter Benjamin. Badiou believes that the poetry of Holderlin is one of the main reasons why contemporary thought has to free itself of the ‘Age of the poets’; Lacoue-Labarthe, on the other hand, argues that Holderlin’s poetry provides important new insights in the social relevance of poetry.

A demythologised prayer? : Religion, myth and poetry in Nancy's deconstruction of christianity

In his ‘deconstruction of Christianity’, Jean-Luc Nancy seeks to show how our modern, secular society and its so-called Christian ‘roots’ are co-original and mutually constitutive. As a result of this mutual constitution, the Christian religion is fundamentally characterised by its own deconstruction. This article focuses on one element of this auto-deconstructive movement of Christianity: that of prayer, or more generally, of addressing God. According to Nancy, prayer reveals how Christianity contains at its core, or rather as its core, the principal absence of its God and therefore the kernel of its own secularisation. This article examines why, in Nancy’s work, prayer has to be understood both as a form of demythologisation, as well as a poetic movement, a movement correlating with, and proper to, poetic practices. In adopting such an approach, Christianity’s auto-deconstruction is explained as a question of language.