Arresting Language: From Leibniz to Benjamin Paperback - 2002 - 1st Edition
by Peter Fenves
From the rear cover
Speech act theory has taught us "how to do things with words." Arresting Language turns its attention in the opposite direction--toward the surprising things that language can undo and leave undone. In the eight essays of this volume, arresting language is seen as language at rest, words no longer in service to the project of establishing conventions or instituting legal regimes. Concentrating on both widely known and seldom-read texts from a variety of philosophers, writers, and critics--from Leibniz and Mendelssohn, through Kleist and Hebel, to Benjamin and Irigaray--the book analyzes the genesis and structure of interruption, a topic of growing interest to contemporary literary studies, continental philosophy, legal studies, and theological reflection.
Beginning with an exposition of Holderlin's rigorous account of interruption in terms of the "pure word," in which the event of representation alone appears, Arresting Language identifies critical moments in philosophical and literary texts during which language itself--without any identifiable speaker--arrests otherwise continuous processes and procedures, including the process of representation and the procedures for its legitimization. The book then investigates a series of pure words: the fatal verdict (arret) of divine wisdom in Leibniz, the performance of Jewish ceremonial practices in Mendelssohn, the issuing of unauthorized arrest warrants in Kleist, fraudulent acts of storytelling in Hebel, the eruption of tragic silence and the "mass strike" in Benjamin, and the recurrence of angelic intervention in Irigaray.
At the center of this volume is a detailed explication of Benjamin's effort to transform Husserl's program for a phenomenological epoche into a paradoxically nonprogrammatic, paradisal epoche, by means of which the structure of paradise can be exactly outlined and the Messianic moment--as the ultimate event of arresting language--can at last appear to enter into its own.
From the jacket flap
Speech act theory has taught us "how to do things with words." Arresting Language turns its attention in the opposite direction--toward the surprising things that language can undo and leave undone. In the eight essays of this volume, arresting language is seen as language at rest, words no longer in service to the project of establishing conventions or instituting legal regimes. Concentrating on both widely known and seldom-read texts from a variety of philosophers, writers, and critics--from Leibniz and Mendelssohn, through Kleist and Hebel, to Benjamin and Irigaray--the book analyzes the genesis and structure of interruption, a topic of growing interest to contemporary literary studies, continental philosophy, legal studies, and theological reflection.
Beginning with an exposition of Holderlin's rigorous account of interruption in terms of the "pure word," in which the event of representation alone appears, Arresting Language identifies critical moments in philosophical and literary texts during which language itself--without any identifiable speaker--arrests otherwise continuous processes and procedures, including the process of representation and the procedures for its legitimization. The book then investigates a series of pure words: the fatal verdict (arret) of divine wisdom in Leibniz, the performance of Jewish ceremonial practices in Mendelssohn, the issuing of unauthorized arrest warrants in Kleist, fraudulent acts of storytelling in Hebel, the eruption of tragic silence and the "mass strike" in Benjamin, and the recurrence of angelic intervention in Irigaray.
At the center of this volume is a detailed explication of Benjamin's effort to transform Husserl's program for a phenomenological epoche into a paradoxically nonprogrammatic, paradisal epoche, by means of which the structure of paradise can be exactly outlined and the Messianic moment--as the ultimate event of arresting language--can at last appear to enter into its own.
Details
- Title Arresting Language: From Leibniz to Benjamin
- Author Peter Fenves
- Binding Paperback
- Edition number 1st
- Edition 1
- Pages 400
- Volumes 1
- Language ENG
- Publisher Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA
- Date 2002-11-01
- Illustrated Yes
- ISBN 9780804739603 / 0804739609
- Weight 1.19 lbs (0.54 kg)
- Dimensions 9 x 6.14 x 0.84 in (22.86 x 15.60 x 2.13 cm)
-
Themes
- Cultural Region: Germany
- Library of Congress subjects Poetry, Language and languages - Philosophy
- Library of Congress Catalog Number 2001041087
- Dewey Decimal Code 401
Media reviews
Citations
- Library Journal, 02/01/2002, Page 105
More Copies for Sale
Arresting Language : From Leibniz to Benjamin
by Fenves, Peter
- Used
- Condition
- Used - Very Good
- ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
- 9780804739603 / 0804739609
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Mishawaka, Indiana, United States
- Item Price
-
NZ$21.07FREE shipping to USA
Show Details
Arresting Language _ From Leibniz to Benjamin
by Fenves, Peter
- Used
- very good
- Paperback
- Condition
- Used - Very good
- Edition
- Paperback Octavo
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
- 9780804739603 / 0804739609
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Paris, France
- Item Price
-
NZ$39.99NZ$10.91 shipping to USA
Show Details
Arresting Language: From Leibniz to Benjamin
by Peter Fenves
- Used
- Paperback
- Condition
- Used: Good
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
- 9780804739603 / 0804739609
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
HOUSTON, Texas, United States
- Item Price
-
NZ$52.64FREE shipping to USA
Show Details
Arresting Language: From Leibniz to Benjamin
by Peter Fenves
- New
- Paperback
- Condition
- New
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
- 9780804739603 / 0804739609
- Quantity Available
- 10
- Seller
-
Southport, Merseyside, United Kingdom
- Item Price
-
NZ$68.19NZ$21.14 shipping to USA
Show Details
Arresting Language – From Leibniz to Benjamin
by Peter D. Fenves
- New
- Paperback
- Condition
- New
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
- 9780804739603 / 0804739609
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Exeter, Devon, United Kingdom
- Item Price
-
NZ$70.17NZ$21.24 shipping to USA
Show Details
Arresting Language – From Leibniz to Benjamin
by Peter D. Fenves
- New
- Paperback
- Condition
- New
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
- 9780804739603 / 0804739609
- Quantity Available
- 2
- Seller
-
Exeter, Devon, United Kingdom
- Item Price
-
NZ$70.78NZ$21.24 shipping to USA
Show Details
Arresting Language: From Leibniz to Benjamin
by Fenves, Peter
- New
- Condition
- New
- ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
- 9780804739603 / 0804739609
- Quantity Available
- 61
- Seller
-
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
- Item Price
-
NZ$62.18NZ$25.36 shipping to USA
Show Details
Arresting Language: From Leibniz to Benjamin
by Fenves, Peter
- Used
- Paperback
- Condition
- Used:Good
- Edition
- 1
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
- 9780804739603 / 0804739609
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
HOUSTON, Texas, United States
- Item Price
-
NZ$65.16FREE shipping to USA
Show Details
Arresting Language: From Leibniz to Benjamin
by Fenves, Peter
- New
- Paperback
- Condition
- New
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
- 9780804739603 / 0804739609
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
San Diego, California, United States
- Item Price
-
NZ$142.03NZ$9.22 shipping to USA