1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910816687003321

Autore

Vardoulakis Dimitris

Titolo

The doppelgänger : literature's philosophy / / Dimitris Vardoulakis

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New York, : Fordham University Press, c2010

ISBN

0-8232-3569-6

1-283-29717-5

9786613297174

0-8232-3839-3

0-8232-3300-6

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (344 p.)

Collana

Modern Language Initiative

Disciplina

190

Soggetti

Literature - Philosophy

Philosophy

Subject (Philosophy)

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- Preamble, or An Other Opening -- Introduction, or The Reflections of the Doppelgänger -- Chapter One. The Critique of Loneliness -- Chapter Two. The Subject of Modernity -- Chapter Three. The Task of the Doppelgänger -- Chapter Four. The Politics of the Doppelgänger -- Chapter Five. Self-Inscriptions -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

The Doppelgänger or Double presents literature as the "double" of philosophy. There are historical reasons for this. The genesis of the Doppelgänger is literature's response to the philosophical focus on subjectivity. The Doppelgänger was coined by the German author Jean Paul in 1796 as a critique of Idealism's assertion of subjective autonomy, individuality and human agency. This critique prefigures post-War extrapolations of the subject as decentred. From this perspective, the Doppelgänger has a "family resemblance" to current conceptualizations of subjectivity. It becomes the emblematic subject of modernity. This is the first significant study on the Doppelgänger's influence on philosophical thought. The Doppelgänger emerges as a hidden and unexplored element both in conceptions of subjectivity and



in philosophy's relation to literature. Vardoulakis demonstrates this by employing the Doppelgänger to read literature philosophically and to read philosophy as literature. The Doppelgänger then appears instrumental in the self-conception of both literature and philosophy.