Contemporary Critical Concepts and Pre-Enlightenment Literature

ISSN: 1074-6781

"Writers who worked before the beginning of rationalist universalism's triumphal period which may be ending now-explored issues of consciousness, ideology, and culture that recent criticism and critical theory, using various specialized vocabularies of concepts, have returned to the center of literäry and social criticism. These early modern figures often anticipated some of our clilemmas; How to manipulate an apparently quite mutable world and, at the same time, preserve belief in an immutable "centered" self? How to reconcile rationalist universalism with personal and cultural stability? Rene Descartes's postulate of man as the master and proprietor of an increasingly built world is fundamentally incompatible with his effort to underwrite man as a stable philosophical subject. Man's technical and linguistic mastery devours his "transcendent subjectivity." Students of literature are now using the ideas of what Larry Riggs calls "post-enlightenment thinkers"-Max Horkheimer, Jacques Lacan, Michael Foucault, Rene Girard, and others-to elucidate the implicit and explicit debates about rationalism that are embedded in literary works. This trend is most usefully seen as a renewal of contact with preoccupations that were quite current in medieval, Renaissance, and seventeenth-century European literature. To date, however, innovative criticism has focused an more recent literature. Some post-structuralists-most notably Jacques Lacan-have tried their hand at interpreting early works. Their ideas are interesting, but their knowledge of the periods in question is often weak. Manuscripts on Elizabethan and Restoration theater, French, Italian, and German writers of the medieval and Renaissance periods, and die seventeenth-century French dramatists and moralists are welcome. "

3 publications

Transcription

"Transcription: Cultures – Concepts – Controversies is dedicated to publishing work that explores culture as cultures, interrogates concepts, methods, and theories, and intervenes in controversies about cultures and concepts. The term transcription acknowledges that all cultures engage in acts of translating and transforming performed, spoken, written, or digitalized languages, images, and sounds from one medium into another; it also refers, more specifically, to processes of encoding and transferring genetic information. The series focuses on, yet is not limited to, explorations of North American cultural practices and encourages dialogues between seemingly distant disciplines. Homepage of the editor: Prof. Dr. Sabine Sielke "

10 publications

Major Concepts in Politics and Political Theory

This series invites book manuscripts and proposals on major concepts in politics and political theory—justice, equality, virtue, rights, citizenship, power, sovereignty, property, liberty, etc.—in prominent traditions, periods, and thinkers. This series invites book manuscripts and proposals on major concepts in politics and political theory—justice, equality, virtue, rights, citizenship, power, sovereignty, property, liberty, etc.—in prominent traditions, periods, and thinkers. This series invites book manuscripts and proposals on major concepts in politics and political theory—justice, equality, virtue, rights, citizenship, power, sovereignty, property, liberty, etc.—in prominent traditions, periods, and thinkers.

26 publications

Erziehungskonzeptionen und Praxis / Educational Concepts and Practice

Die Reihe "Erziehungskonzeptionen und Praxis / Educational Concepts and Practice" befasst sich mit dem Gebiet der Pädagogik. Dabei bietet die Reihe ein breites Spektrum an Veröffentlichungen zu diversen Unterrichtsmethoden. Es erscheinen sowohl Beiträge zur Sprach-, Musik-, Literatur und Politikdidaktik, als auch zur Grundlagenreflexion der Lehrausbildung und des Bildungssystems. Herausgegeben wird die Reihe von dem Professor für Erziehungswissenschaften Gerd-Bodo von Carlsburg.

83 publications

Histoire des Échanges, Communications, Postes et Territoires / History of the Exchanges, Communications, Post Offices and Territories

The Postal Service, guardian of a French-styled public service, has become, under the influence of Europe, a universal service, and by its history and by its roots in its environment, presents an opportunity to reflect on the manner in which traditional and contemporary societies have resolved the issues of communication, exchanges and control of territories. Thanks to the Committee for the history of the Post-Office, researchers in the humanities and social sciences have been allowed to reflect on its past and to shed light on the changes in the societies linked within its network. Thus, now active for nearly two decades, the committee has encouraged and promoted research on the Postal Service, its «tools/instruments» of exchanges, its diplomatic agents, its politics, economy, culture and even its land settlements, without forgetting its legislative and legal aspects. This series brings together work – doctorates, acts of symposia, biographies, testimonials – in French and in English, that specifically deal with the Post-Office and, more broadly, of the problems of commerce, communications and the control of territories. It is a platform for critical analyses of a world in perpetual motion. All the publications in this collection are subject to double peer review. Gardienne d’un service public à la française devenu, sous l’influence de l’Europe, un service universel, la Poste, par son histoire et par son ancrage dans son environnement, permet de réfléchir sur la façon dont les sociétés traditionnelles et contemporaines ont résolu les questions de communication, d’échanges et de maîtrise des territoires. Grâce au Comité pour l’Histoire de la Poste, il est donné aux chercheurs en sciences humaines et sociales à réfléchir sur son passé et à éclairer les mutations des sociétés qu’elle relie grâce à son réseau. Ainsi, actif depuis plus de deux décennies, le comité suscite et encourage les recherches sur les Postes, « outils/instruments » d’échanges, et aussi agent de la diplomatie, de la politique, de l’économie, de la culture ou encore de l’aménagement des territoires, sans oublier les aspects législatifs et juridiques. Cette collection rassemble les travaux – doctorats, actes de colloques, biographies, témoignages –, en français et en anglais, traitant spécifiquement de la Poste/des postes et, de façon plus large, des problématiques des échanges, des communications et de la maîtrise des territoires. Elle se veut une plateforme d’analyses critiques d’un monde en perpétuel mouvement. Toutes les publications de cette collection sont soumises à une double évaluation à l’aveugle.

14 publications