"Speaking is not possible". Blanchot and Hölderlin's impossible speech.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15691/0718-5448Vol3Iss2a327Keywords:
Law, impossibility, writing, death, Hölder-linAbstract
This essay seeks to analyse the language of literature in Maurice Blanchot’s thinking, and its relation to notions as the “sacred,” the fundament, the law and the origin. The unifying thread will be the reading of Friedrich Hölderlin’s oeuvre that Blanchot offers in the essay “The ‘Sacred’ Speech of Hölderlin.” (1946), which addresses Hölderlin’s poem “As on a holiday” (1799). This poem was also discussed by Martin Heidegger in 1941, in an essay bearing the same title. Blanchot takes sides and debates with Heidegger’s essay. I will give an account of Blanchot firm insistence to think language as preceded by a rip and an impossibility, crossed by a questioning of idea of law and the relation of foundation that this idea entails. The essay will highlight the relevance of the question concerning the legitimacy of philosophical reflection and literature. The intriguing and controversial “right to death” to which Blanchot alludes in “Literature and the right to death” could be better understood by taking into account the analyses developed here.
References
Allemann, Beda. 1965. Hölderlin y Heidegger (Trad. E. García Belsunce). Buenos Aires: Los libros del mirasol.
Benjamin, Walter. 2010. Ensayos escogidos (Trad. H. A. Murena). Buenos Aires: Cuenco de plata.
Blanchot, Maurice. 1949. La part du feu. Paris: Gallimard.
_______. 1955. L’espace littéraire. Paris: Gallimard-folio.
_______. 1971. L’Amitie. Paris: Gallimard.
_______. 2002. El espacio literario (Trad. Vicky Palant y Jorge Jinks). Madrid: Editorial Nacional.
_______. 2007a. La parte del fuego (Trad. Isidro Herrera). Madrid: Arena.
_______. 2007b. La amistad (Trad. J.A. Doval Liz). Madrid: Trotta.
Derrida, Jacques. 2014. The death penalty. Volume I (Trad. Peggy Kamuf). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
_______. 2015. Clamor (Glas) (Trad. Cristina de Peretti y Luis Ferrero Carracedo). Madrid: La Oficina de Arte y Edición.
Fynsk, Christopher. 1996. “Crossing the threshold. On ‘Literature and the right to death’”. In Carolyn Baily Gill (ed.), Maurice Blanchot. The demand of writing. London: Routledge: 70-90.
Gasché, Rodolphe. 1996. “The felicities of paradox. Blanchot on the null space of literatura”. In Carolyn Baily Gill (ed.), Maurice Blanchot. The demand of writing. London: Routledge: 34-69.
Greisch, Jean. 1983. “Hölderlin et le chemin vers le sacré”. In Martin Heidegger, Les Cahiers de L’Herne Martin Heidegger. Paris: Éditions de l’Herne: 403-415.
Hegel, G. W. F. 1939. La Phénoménologie de l’esprit (Trad. Jean Hyppolite). Paris: Aubier.
Heidegger, Martin. 2005. Aclaraciones a la poesía de Hölderlin (Trad. Helena Cortés y Arturo Leyte). Madrid: Alianza.
_______. 2016. Ser y Tiempo (Trad. Jorge Eduardo Rivera). Santiago: Editorial Universitaria.
Hill, Leslie. 1997. Blanchot. Extreme Contemporary. London, New York: Routledge.
Hölderlin, Friedrich. 2001. La muerte de Empédocles (Trad. Feliu Formosa). Barcelona: Acantilado.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows the use, transformation, and distribution for any purpose, as long as the author is recognized, and in the event of changes or developements are made from it, the derivate work be shared under the same license.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book).
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
