With the awareness of climate change our experience of literature has fundamentally changed. Using the heideggarian notions of world and earth, as well as key insights of Timothy Morton regarding...Show moreWith the awareness of climate change our experience of literature has fundamentally changed. Using the heideggarian notions of world and earth, as well as key insights of Timothy Morton regarding the experience of climate change and the experience of literature according to Maurice Blanchot, this thesis tries to show how our experience of literature has changed. The literary texts may have stayed the same, the way in which we read them has certainly not. The awareness of climate change has forced us to recognize that we are connected to and have a bearing on everything else on earth. This awareness makes it so that we read literary texts according to this awareness.Show less
It is my contention that we – in our time – do have an answer to the question: hidden at the very core of the web of different perspectives, lies the central insight that – in my words – death...Show moreIt is my contention that we – in our time – do have an answer to the question: hidden at the very core of the web of different perspectives, lies the central insight that – in my words – death reveals the meaning of existence. This is the thesis I will put forth over the course of this investigation, based on a discussion of three major perspectives on the relation between death and meaning. The thesis is centered around the verb revealing, interpreted in three different ways, allowing me to synthesize the different perspectives into one central claim whilst respecting their differences. The claim that death reveals the meaning of existence comes down to the attempt to think the paradox of death. As such, my main objective is to show that death must be thought in its ambiguity. Death’s ambiguity will turn out to be the common ground underlying all perspectives I will discuss; it is the space where death is revealed in its relation to the meaning of existence. As such, the claim that death reveals the meaning of existence will itself prove to be an equivocal statement.Show less
Ce mémoire examine le rôle du 'négatif' dans la théorie littéraire de Maurice Blanchot, son lien avec 'l'espace littéraire', et l'influence de Martin Heidegger à ce propos.
