The Imperative to Write: Destitutions of the Sublime in Kafka, Blanchot and Beckett
The Imperative to Write: Destitutions of the Sublime in Kafka, Blanchot and Beckett
Assistant Professor of French
Cite
Abstract
This book poses the question of an imperative to write as it was claimed, elaborated, and undergone by three of the twentieth century’s most philosophically informed writers, Franz Kafka, Maurice Blanchot, and Samuel Beckett. All three of these writers stress repeatedly and in multiple ways the hyperbolic and exclusive nature of the necessity to write, but the terms of this necessity waver between a groundless and categorical imperative that shadows Kant’s moral philosophy, and a sheer, unstoppable compulsion which at its extremes raises the specter of torture. The book shows that in each case this wavering course maps out a trajectory residually similar to that of the classical notion of the sublime found in Kant, but rather than leading to a supersensible power and a metaphysical moral vocation, the adventures undergone by these writers reveal an otherworldly space of uncanny images and endless fictive speech: literary space not as a reflection of the world but as its infernal, unreal and abyssal ground. Drawing on the thought of Heidegger, Freud, Nancy and Lacoue-Labarthe, the book shows that Kafka, Blanchot and Beckett deliberately destitute their texts of any treasures promised by literature in its sublime or redemptive tendencies. Structured as profoundly melancholic, their texts are traversed by dead and dying bodies, ghosts and revenants, and voices compelled to speak in a void, but in their figurative and linguistic specificites they also bear witness to singularities of time and experience from which their extreme fictions, and their haunting imperatives, are derived.
-
Front Matter
- Introduction “Why Do You Write?”—The Fault of Writing
-
Part One Kafka
-
Part Two Blanchot
-
Part Three Beckett
-
End Matter
Sign in
Personal account
- Sign in with email/username & password
- Get email alerts
- Save searches
- Purchase content
- Activate your purchase/trial code
- Add your ORCID iD
Purchase
Our books are available by subscription or purchase to libraries and institutions.
Purchasing informationMonth: | Total Views: |
---|---|
December 2022 | 3 |
February 2023 | 3 |
February 2023 | 1 |
October 2023 | 2 |
January 2024 | 1 |
June 2024 | 3 |
June 2024 | 2 |
June 2024 | 3 |
August 2024 | 1 |
August 2024 | 1 |
August 2024 | 1 |
August 2024 | 1 |
August 2024 | 1 |
August 2024 | 1 |
August 2024 | 1 |
August 2024 | 1 |
August 2024 | 1 |
August 2024 | 1 |
August 2024 | 1 |
August 2024 | 1 |
August 2024 | 1 |
August 2024 | 1 |
August 2024 | 1 |
August 2024 | 1 |
August 2024 | 1 |
October 2024 | 1 |
March 2025 | 1 |
March 2025 | 1 |
Get help with access
Institutional access
Access to content on Oxford Academic is often provided through institutional subscriptions and purchases. If you are a member of an institution with an active account, you may be able to access content in one of the following ways:
IP based access
Typically, access is provided across an institutional network to a range of IP addresses. This authentication occurs automatically, and it is not possible to sign out of an IP authenticated account.
Sign in through your institution
Choose this option to get remote access when outside your institution. Shibboleth/Open Athens technology is used to provide single sign-on between your institution’s website and Oxford Academic.
If your institution is not listed or you cannot sign in to your institution’s website, please contact your librarian or administrator.
Sign in with a library card
Enter your library card number to sign in. If you cannot sign in, please contact your librarian.
Society Members
Society member access to a journal is achieved in one of the following ways:
Sign in through society site
Many societies offer single sign-on between the society website and Oxford Academic. If you see ‘Sign in through society site’ in the sign in pane within a journal:
If you do not have a society account or have forgotten your username or password, please contact your society.
Sign in using a personal account
Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members. See below.
Personal account
A personal account can be used to get email alerts, save searches, purchase content, and activate subscriptions.
Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members.
Viewing your signed in accounts
Click the account icon in the top right to:
Signed in but can't access content
Oxford Academic is home to a wide variety of products. The institutional subscription may not cover the content that you are trying to access. If you believe you should have access to that content, please contact your librarian.
Institutional account management
For librarians and administrators, your personal account also provides access to institutional account management. Here you will find options to view and activate subscriptions, manage institutional settings and access options, access usage statistics, and more.