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Review of Paradox, aphorism and desire in Novalis and Derrida, by Kennedy, C.
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Hodkinson, James R., 1973- (2010) Review of Paradox, aphorism and desire in Novalis and Derrida, by Kennedy, C. Modern Language Review, Vol.105 (No.1). pp. 206-208. ISSN 0026-7937
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Official URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25655150
Abstract
The 1980s saw a trend in Novalis scholarship towards equating the poet’s thought and writing with post-structuralism: Novalis’s criticism of absolutist metaphysics and his notion of identity as a linguistic construct seemed to resonate with contemporary concerns. By the 1990s others, such as John Neubauer (‘Novalis und der Postmodernismus’, in Geschichtlichkeit und Aktualität, ed. by K. Müller, G. Pasternack, W. Segebrecht, and L. Stockinger (Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1988), pp. 207-20) and Herbert Uerlings (Friedrich von Hardenberg, genannt Novalis: Werk und Forschung (Stuttgart: Metzler, 1991)), had sounded cautionary notes: while Novalis’s texts demonstrated deconstructing impulses, they rested nevertheless upon the existence of a metaphysical absolute which, although often radically ironized, threatened to reassert its presence. Thus the poet was left inhabiting a field of tension between idealism and a kind of anticipated post-structuralism. Any critic reopening this debate today has to tread carefully, seeking nuanced points of congruence between Romanticism and post-structuralism, rather than simple equations. Clare Kennedy’s monograph attempts just this, seeing the necessity for ‘reading Novalis responsibly with Derrida’ (p. 8). This, then, is to be a more sustained discussion of the similarities between the writing of the late French philosopher and Novalis than has been attempted hitherto, one which will demonstrate how the ‘resemblances between the two writers are, at times, uncanny’ (p. 8).
| Item Type: | Book Review |
|---|---|
| Subjects: | P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) |
| Divisions: | Faculty of Arts > German Studies |
| Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Novalis, 1772-1801 -- Criticism and interpretation, Derrida, Jacques -- Criticism and interpretation, Paradox in literature, Desire in literature, Aphorisms and apothegms in literature |
| Journal or Publication Title: | Modern Language Review |
| Publisher: | Maney Publishing |
| ISSN: | 0026-7937 |
| Book Title: | Paradox, aphorism and desire in Novalis and Derrida |
| Date: | 1 January 2010 |
| Volume: | Vol.105 |
| Number: | No.1 |
| Number of Pages: | 3 |
| Page Range: | pp. 206-208 |
| Publication Status: | Published |
| Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access |
| URI: | http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/6415 |
Data sourced from Thomson Reuters' Web of Knowledge
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