- Docente: Patrick Jones
Although Stanley Cavell (1926-2018) was a philosopher by profession, some of his most dedicated followers have been literary critics. This is not surprising; few contemporary philosophers have been as invested as Cavell in staging a mutually enriching encounter between literature and philosophy, and even fewer still have articulated their ideas in such a lyrical, essayistic manner. In this seminar, we will read a selection of Cavell’s essays on literature, including his bravura interpretations of William Shakespeare’s King Lear and Samuel Beckett’s Endgame. Reading Cavell alongside his literary interlocutors will enable us to explore rich and open-ended questions relating to character, genre, the ordinary, love, and moral perfectionism.
No prior knowledge of philosophy is needed to follow this seminar. Some curiosity about the bearing of literature on philosophical questions is nevertheless recommended!