Committing the future to memory : history, experience, trauma / Sarah Clift.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Clift, Sarah.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Benjamin, Walter, 1892-1940.

Benjamin, Walter.

Arendt, Hannah, 1906-1975.

Arendt, Hannah.

Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich, 1770-1831.

Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich.

Locke, John, 1632-1704.

Locke, John.

Blanchot, Maurice.

Historiography--Philosophy.

Historiography.

Civilization, Modern--Philosophy.

Civilization, Modern.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (263 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New York : Fordham University Press, 2013.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Whereas historical determinacy conceives the past as a complex and unstable network of causalities, this book asks how history can be related to a more radical future. To pose that question, it does not reject determinacy outright but rather seeks to explore how it works. In examining what it means to be “determined” by history, it also asks what kind of openings there might be in our encounters with history for interruptions, re-readings, and re-writings.Engaging texts spanning multiple genres and several centuries—from John Locke to Maurice Blanchot, from Hegel to Benjamin—Clift looks at experiences of time that exceed the historical narration of experiences said to have occurred in time. She focuses on the co-existence of multiple temporalities and opens up the quintessentially modern notion of historical succession to other possibilities. The alternatives she draws out include the mediations of language and narration, temporal leaps, oscillations and blockages, and the role played by contingency in representation. She argues that such alternatives compel us to reassess the ways we understand history and identity in a traumatic, or indeed in a post-traumatic, age.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Narrative Life Span, in the Wake: Benjamin and Arendt

2. Memory in Theory: The Childhood Memories of John Locke (Persons, Parrots)

3. Mourning Memory: The “End” of Art or, Reading (in) the Spirit of Hegel

4. Speculating on the Past, the Impact of the Present: Hegel and His Time(s)

5. In Lieu of a Last Word: Maurice Blanchot and the Future of Memory (Today)

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

0-8232-5421-6

0-8232-6116-6

0-8232-5424-0

0-8232-5423-2

OCLC:

868945623