Language and negativity in European modernism : toward a literature of the unword / Shane Weller.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Weller, Shane, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

European literature--20th century--History and criticism.

European literature.

Modernism (Literature)--Europe.

Modernism (Literature).

Europe.

Negativity (Philosophy) in literature.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Physical Description:

vi, 285 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2019.

Summary:

"This book charts the history of a distinct strain of European literary modernism that emerged out of a radical re-engagement with late nineteenth-century language scepticism. Focusing first on the literary and philosophical strands of this language- sceptical tradition, the book proceeds to trace the various forms of linguistic negativism deployed by European writers in the interwar and post-war years, including Franz Kafka, Georges Bataille, Samuel Beckett, Maurice Blanchot, Paul Celan, and W. G. Sebald. Through close analyses of these and other writers' attempts to capture an 'unspeakable' experience, Language and Negativity in European Modernism explores the remarkable literary attempt to deploy the negative potentialities of language in order to articulate an experience of what, shortly after the Second World War, Beckett described as a vision of 'humanity in ruins'"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

The language crisis: from Mallarme to Mauthner

Great destructive work: the interwar years

Performing the negative: Franz Kafka

Humanity in ruins: Samuel Beckett

Writing the disaster: Maurice Blanchot

Through the thousand darknesses: Paul Celan

Unconditional negativity: W.G. Sebald

Unwording, terminal and interminable.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781108475020

1108475027

OCLC:

1050362890