mimesis

poetry

sublime

nationality

French

occupation / innovator as

philosopher

translator

literary critic

innovator in the field of

philosophy

linguist

historian

post-structuralist

is the fiction of representing that which was never present to begin with.

Lacoue-Labarthe will subsequently argue that mimesis is 'undecidability 'itself',' and that 'the 'essence' of mimesis. . . [is] the very lapse 'itself' of 'essence'. . . [or] what is 'proper' to mimesis. . . [is] the fact that mimesis has no 'proper' to it, ever.'72 Mimesis is nevertheless the condition which allows for the possibility of representation for it is always already a (re)presentation of that which is not 'present.'73 And it is in this context that Lacoue-Labarthe finds a necessary double bind, a bind from which he believes philosophy cannot escape. This double bind calls for the the necessity of (re)presenting that which was never present, or, it is impossible to fiction the fictioning process, but it is impossible not to fiction it' (NET)

is undecidability itself. It has no proper to it, ever but is nevertheless the condition which allows for the possibility of representation, for it is always already a (re)presentation of that which is not 'present.

Lacoue-Labarthe will subsequently argue that mimesis is 'undecidability 'itself',' and that 'the 'essence' of mimesis. . . [is] the very lapse 'itself' of 'essence'. . . [or] what is 'proper' to mimesis. . . [is] the fact that mimesis has no 'proper' to it, ever.'72 Mimesis is nevertheless the condition which allows for the possibility of representation for it is always already a (re)presentation of that which is not 'present.'73 And it is in this context that LacoueLabarthe finds a necessary double bind, a bind from which he believes philosophy cannot escape. This double bind calls for the the necessity of (re)presenting that which was never present, or, it is impossible to fiction the fictioning process, but it is impossible not to fiction it' (NET)

Poetry as something happening among other things happening. As something happening in language, and to language under siege. Poetry as memory, sometimes memory of the future. Poetry as both fixed and in process, ever a paradox. Above all, poetry as experience, as Philippe Lacou-Labarthe would put it. (He would add, poetry as interruption of the "poetic," but that’s for some other time.)

is not really a limited category of art that is only present at certain times, in certain artworks, or in opposition to other aesthetic categories such as that of the beautiful. It is intrinsic to all 'great' works of art (greatness being part of the definition of sublimity) and to artistic imitation (mimesis) in general.

The second claim made in Lacoue-Labarthe's essay that will inform the present study is that the sublime is not really a limited category of art that is only present at certain times, in certain artworks, or in opposition to other aesthetic categories such as that of the beautiful. Adopting Longinus's expanded-view of the sublime, which is not structured in opposition to any category of the ''beautiful'' and includes rhetoric, metaphor, and figuration in general (''the best figure seems . .. that figure which hides and which casts into oblivion its own existence, ''5 LacoueLabarthe insist that sublimity is intrinsic to all ''great'' works of art (greatness being part of the definition of sublimity) and to artistic imitation (mimesis) in general: ''It is on the basis of such a mimetology that Longinus undertakes to treat of the sublime. But for this very reason his treatment of the sublime has an entirely different significance [than Aristotle's): it is not simply the question of great art that is posed but, within the question of great art, the question of the possibility and essence of art. ''

Philippe Lacoue Labarthe

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Philippe Lacoue Labarthe