Disarming intelligence : Proust, Valéry, and modern French criticism / Zakir Paul.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Paul, Zakir, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Proust, Marcel, 1871-1922.

Proust, Marcel.

Bergson, Henri, 1859-1941.

Bergson, Henri.

Valéry, Paul, 1871-1945.

Valéry, Paul.

Criticism--France--History--19th century.

Criticism.

Intellect--Philosophy--History--19th century.

Intellect.

Philosophy, French--19th century.

Philosophy, French.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (v, 278 pages, 1 unnumbered page)

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

Proust, Valéry, and modern French criticism

Place of Publication:

Princeton, New Jersey ; Oxford : Princeton University Press, [2024].

Summary:

"A critical account of the idea of intelligence in modern French literature and thoughtIn the late nineteenth century, psychologists and philosophers became intensely interested in the possibility of quantifying, measuring, and evaluating “intelligence,” and using it to separate and compare individuals. Disarming Intelligence analyzes how this polyvalent term was consolidated and contested in competing discourses, from fin de siècle psychology and philosophy to literature, criticism, and cultural polemics around the First World War.Zakir Paul examines how Marcel Proust, Henri Bergson, Paul Valéry, and the critics of the influential Nouvelle revue française registered, negotiated, and subtly countered the ways intelligence was invoked across the political and aesthetic spectrum. For these writers, intelligence fluctuates between an individual, sovereign faculty for analyzing the world and something collective, accidental, and contingent. Disarming Intelligence shows how literary and critical styles questioned, suspended, and reimagined what intelligence could be by bringing elements of uncertainty and potentiality into its horizon. The book also explores interwar political tensions—from the extreme right to Walter Benjamin's engaged essays on contemporary French writers. Finally, a brief coda recasts current debates about artificial intelligence by comparing them to these earlier crises of intelligence.By drawing together and untangling competing conceptions of intelligence, Disarming Intelligence exposes its mercurial but influential and urgent role in literary and cultural politics."--Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction: Disarming Intelligence

Chapter one. Gathering Intelligence: from Taine to Bergson

Chapter two. Abdicating Intelligence: proust and narrative form

Chapter three. Testing Intelligence: Valéry reconfigured

Chapter four. Mobilizing Intelligence: critical neutrality at the nouvelle revue française

Chapter five. Situating Intelligence: Walter Benjamin and political technique

Epilogue: Crises of Intelligence.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 249-269) and index.

Description based on online resource, publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Other Format:

Print version: Paul, Zakir Disarming Intelligence

ISBN:

9780691261539

0691261539

OCLC:

1441724316