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Epistemologies in 20th Century French Literature and Thought
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Epistemologies in 20th Century French Literature and Thought

A special issue of Literature (ISSN 2410-9789).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 December 2022) | Viewed by 7180

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Anne McConnell

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
English Department, West Virginia State University, Charleston, WV, USA
Interests: contemporary literature and theory from France, Latin America, and the United States; ecocriticism and animal studies
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue is dedicated to a discussion of literary and philosophical texts that explore different ways of knowing, along with the implications of particular knowledge practices and approaches. While the topic certainly lends itself to an engagement with philosophical texts, as the title indicates we are equally interested in papers that examine epistemological questions that arise in fiction and poetry. With that in mind, we invite papers that consider the intersection of literature with other fields of study, such as ecology, ethology, anthropology, and psychology. In a century where many writers and thinkers define themselves against older empirical and rational models of knowing, we also see new knowledge practices arise, along with careful study of the way knowledge reflects particular social structures, cultural norms, and power dynamics. How do literary and philosophical texts—or those that blur the boundary between the two—respond to or manifest new epistemological questions and challenges that arise in the 20th century?  What assumptions do these texts challenge, and what new epistemologies do they posit? For this Special Issue, we understand the designation of “French” literature and thought as inclusive of all French-language texts and traditions of the 20th century.   

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Anne McConnell
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Literature is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • 20th century literature
  • French literature
  • Francophone literature
  • epistemology
  • 20th century philosophy
  • critical theory
  • philosophy of science

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

11 pages, 292 KiB  
Article
New Paradigms in French Historiography, or the Same Old Ones?
by Monica Martinat
Literature 2023, 3(2), 231-241; https://doi.org/10.3390/literature3020016 - 26 Apr 2023
Viewed by 1271
Abstract
This article presents some recent trends in French historiography that concern the relationship between history and literature. Among the recent developments are “experiments” carried out by a few historians, which are characterized by an explicit determination to focus on narrative, along with a [...] Read more.
This article presents some recent trends in French historiography that concern the relationship between history and literature. Among the recent developments are “experiments” carried out by a few historians, which are characterized by an explicit determination to focus on narrative, along with a willingness to share one’s own historical subjectivity. By going through some of the examples from this approach, this article highlights how these literary reflexes make important contributions. However, it also points out the weakness of this proposed method of making history on epistemological grounds. That is, it abandons the form of historical writing that requires distance and an appreciation that history’s vocation is to propose solid but uncertain propositions (to paraphrase Zemon Davis). By insisting on emotional and sensitive understanding, the knowledge gained from these experiments only questions the scientific aspects of history and history itself. This recent trend is not exactly new, as it evidently links up with some of the consequences generated by the linguistic turn. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Epistemologies in 20th Century French Literature and Thought)
14 pages, 257 KiB  
Article
Dirty Windows and Troublesome Things: The Problem of Object-Orientation in Alain Robbe-Grillet’s La Jalousie
by Andy Zuliani
Literature 2023, 3(2), 217-230; https://doi.org/10.3390/literature3020015 - 17 Apr 2023
Viewed by 1240
Abstract
This article investigates the representation of objects in La Jalousie (1957), a novel in the nouveau roman tradition written by French novelist Alain Robbe-Grillet. If the ‘new novel’ sought to render the material world with objective clarity, and positioned itself against traditional fiction, [...] Read more.
This article investigates the representation of objects in La Jalousie (1957), a novel in the nouveau roman tradition written by French novelist Alain Robbe-Grillet. If the ‘new novel’ sought to render the material world with objective clarity, and positioned itself against traditional fiction, with its reliance on metaphor, allegory, and other ‘projections,’ this article argues that such an aesthetic program is undercut by its own assumptions about the power of description and the primacy of the visual. In an analysis which hybridizes three separate strands of criticism—object-oriented ontology, Heideggerian phenomenology, and the models of ‘resonation’ proposed by Brian Massumi—I will argue that such a treatment of objects, with its exclusive reliance on visual description, measurement, and enumeration, ends up depriving objects of the vitality and dynamism that would justify such a fictional project in the first place. However, traces of this dynamism do survive the flattening sweep of Robbe-Grillet’s narration, and indeed offer from the cracks and fissures of the novel’s otherwise smoothly controlled style the possibility of an alternate ‘object-orientation’—one, I will argue, which suspends its cool optical detachment to allow, however briefly, the eruption of a messy, entangling register of touch. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Epistemologies in 20th Century French Literature and Thought)
14 pages, 301 KiB  
Article
Henri Bergson’s Haunted Epistemology: Consciousness Unframed
by Adam Lovasz
Literature 2023, 3(1), 66-79; https://doi.org/10.3390/literature3010005 - 09 Jan 2023
Viewed by 1968
Abstract
In his main work, Matter and Memory, Henri Bergson presents a panpsychist ontology which cuts through the Gordian knot of the mind vs. matter problem. Taking this age-old philosophical topic, Bergson pushes the dualism of mind and matter beyond breaking point. Matter [...] Read more.
In his main work, Matter and Memory, Henri Bergson presents a panpsychist ontology which cuts through the Gordian knot of the mind vs. matter problem. Taking this age-old philosophical topic, Bergson pushes the dualism of mind and matter beyond breaking point. Matter is reconceived as the sum of all images. Bergson introduces the dual concepts of cosmic “perception” and cosmic “memory”. Matter itself is reinterpreted as a continuum of all possible intensities of perception and memory. Bergson’s ontology has important epistemological ramifications. There is no sharp dividing line between consciousness and matter. In light of these insights, I propose a reading of Bergson’s relatively lesser-known lecture, “‘Phantasms of the Living’ and Psychical Research”, presented at the Society for Psychical Research in 1913. Here, Bergson elaborates upon the implications of his image-ontology for the possible post mortem fate of consciousness. In my concluding remarks, I suggest that Bergson’s observations may be of help in constructing an anti-reductionist and indeterministic epistemology. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Epistemologies in 20th Century French Literature and Thought)
12 pages, 292 KiB  
Article
Michel Serres’s “Dream of Another Epistemology”: Provoking Somatic Encounters with the Universe
by Keith Moser
Literature 2022, 2(4), 213-224; https://doi.org/10.3390/literature2040018 - 29 Sep 2022
Viewed by 1905
Abstract
This essay explores Michel Serres’s “poetic dream of another epistemology” connected to an anti-Cartesian, sensorial view of knowledge. The philosopher alludes to empirical studies from the field of cognitive neuroscience, which have demonstrated that the mind and body are interwoven as part of [...] Read more.
This essay explores Michel Serres’s “poetic dream of another epistemology” connected to an anti-Cartesian, sensorial view of knowledge. The philosopher alludes to empirical studies from the field of cognitive neuroscience, which have demonstrated that the mind and body are interwoven as part of one integrated entity, in order to propose an alternative epistemological framework for (re-) envisioning the nature of knowledge. The philosopher’s rehabilitation of our senses illustrates that our body is replete with overlapping epistemological channels that bifurcate in all directions. Serres explains how somatic encounters with the universe enable us to constitute a stable sense of self in relation to the larger world. However, he recognizes that there are a plethora of obstacles standing in the way of allowing his epistemological dream to come to fruition. In what he refers to as the Exo-Darwinian, hominescent era, the (post-) modern, urbanized lifestyle affords very little contact with the remainder of the planet. Moreover, Serres laments how climate change has already forever eradicated spaces of meaning that are indispensable as part of an epistemological quest of knowing what and who we are as planetary beings. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Epistemologies in 20th Century French Literature and Thought)
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