Description
Book SynopsisThis volume juxtaposes philosophical and psychoanalytic speculation with literary and artistic commentary in order to approach a set of questions concerning the human relation to language, a relation that cannot be taken as an object of critical or philosophical reflection in the traditional manner. Exploring the exigencies of figuring this relation at the limits of language, the multifold writing of this volume takes the form of a triptych (following the model of works by Francis Bacon) rather than that of a thesis.
The central (and organizing) section of the volume contains an extended dialogue on two textual passages portraying versions of what the author describes as the death of the infans. With the strange resonance of the primal or the originary, these two scenes from works by Maurice Blanchot and Jacques Lacan invite a reflection on the mortal exposure that marks the human share in the advent of language, an exposure whose figuration is necessary to any speech o
Trade Review
"In blending theoretical acumen with literary sensibility, Christopher Fynsk's volume makes an important contribution to the timely and ethical project of thinking otherwise than Being our human relation to language." -- Symploke
"This very important meditation on the human relationships to language will assume a prominent place not only in the field of the philosophy of language but in the expanding field of trauma research. Moreover, it will serve to introduce into philosophical and psychoanalytical thought a new dimension, namely the 'thought of relation.'" -- Elisabeth Weber * University of California, Santa Barbara *
Table of Contents
List of illustrations Introduction Part I. What Remains at a Crucifixion: 1. A prefce on cruelty: Nietzsche's self-examination 2. What remains at a crucifixion Part II. Infant Figures: 3. Infant figures Appendix Part III. Anonymous Figures: 4. An art of the possible: a dialogue with Salvatore Puglia 5. Anonymous figures Notes Bibliography Index of names.
