Crespo-Perona, Miguel Ángel (1999) An aesthetics of sacredness : a Nietzschean reading of James Joyce and T. S. Eliot. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

Instead of exploring explicit textual or ideological influences of the philosophy
of F.W. Nietzsche on Modernist literary writers, this thesis analyses the points
at which works such as James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
and T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets bear an implicit relationship to an aesthetic
theory for which the notion of representation (artistic or philosophical) and that
of sacredness must be thought together. Such a theory is to be found most
explicitly in Nietzsche's The Birth of Tragedy, although some of his earlier and
later writings engage with it too.
Thus, from the points of convergence of the sacred and the aesthetic that
appear in The Birth of Tragedy, I extract the keys for a theory of representation
at large, of Nietzschean import, in order to contrast the notion of philosophical
representation (Vorstellung) with the activities and discourses which philosophy
has traditionally tried to avoid: rituals and myths. Out of this contrast, the
conclusion emerges that there is a genealogical progression from ritual
(specifically sacrifice) to myth, and from this to philosophical and artistic
representation; that is to say, that only after a myth (whose root was a ritual) has
lost its religious value, can philosophy and art (and literature in particular) enjoy
a fully separate existence, as the secularised discourses that characterise our
Modernity: (here modern science is included as a development and continuation
of the philosophical discourse). What makes Modernist writers play an essential
role in this respect is their tacit awareness of this genealogy, which is manifested
in their aesthetic practice. Two instances of this practice are analysed here, in
their mythopoeic character (mainly derived from the mythic possibilities of
Christianity), and their questioning of modern notions (selfhood, identity,
individuality). They re-enact the original sacred speech previous to our
secularised modern aesthetics.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > B Philosophy (General) P Language and Literature > PR English literature
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm, 1844-1900 -- Criticism and interpretation, Joyce, James, 1882-1941 -- Criticism and interpretation, Eliot, T. S. (Thomas Stearns), 1888-1965 -- Criticism and interpretation, Aesthetics, Representation (Philosophy)
Official Date:	January 1999
Dates:	Date Event January 1999 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Department of Philosophy
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Sponsors:	CAM Savings Bank (Spain) ; British Council ; British Academy ; University of Warwick
Extent:	366 leaves
Language:	eng

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