1st Edition

Conceptions of the Absurd From Surrealism to Chestov's and Fondane's Existential Thought

By Ramona Fotiade Copyright 2002
    by Routledge

    The concept of the Absurd was a source of fascination for artists and intellectuals throughout the twentieth century. Two interpretations in particular were to provide major reference points for French writers in the 1920s and 1930s: the Surrealist 'free functioning of thought', and the existential critique of rational discourse elaborated by Leon Chestov(1866-1938) and Benjamine Fondane(1898-1944). In this highly original study, Fotiade examines the less familiar existential line, and shows that Chestov and Fondane's project found both support and illustration in the force-field of the Surrealist movement. the work of such dissident writers as Antonin Artuad, Roger Gilbert-Lecomte and Rene Daumal takes on wider intellectual context.

    Acknowledgements, Note on References, Introduction, 1 Places in the Mind: Self-Evidence and Consciousness of Self, 2 The Powerless Subject: Forms of Negative Reconstruction, 3 Time and History: Forms of Temporal Existence, 4 Individual Choice and Freedom: Between the Categorical Imperative and the Suspension of the Ethical, Conclusions, Bibliography, Index

    Biography

    Ramona Fotiade is a Lecturer in French at the University of Glasgow.