Blanchot and Metaphor

Emily Finlay (Monash University)

Please join us for PoD #3 Tuesday 21 March, 6PM @ RMIT City Campus

Blanchot and Metaphor

Emily Finlay (Monash University)

This talk will examine Blanchot's understanding of metaphor as metamorphosis and as a form of dissimulation, with particular attention to his writings on Lautréamont in The Work of Fire and to his discussion of Nietzsche and light in The Infinite Conversation. I will then attempt to draw a distinction between metamorphosis and dissimulation on the grounds that dissimulation implies an essence of sorts, whereas a process of constant metamorphosis, by contrast, undermines the notion of essence or origin. Finally, I will discuss this in terms of Blanchot's later conception of anonymous writing as a form of political engagement, finishing with a discussion of the difficulties of grounding writing in a politics of identity.

BIO: Emily Finlay is an adjunct Research Associate in the School of Philosophical, Historical and International Studies, Monash University, and the Editor of the Journal of Language, Literature and Culture. She is an Vice Convenor of the Melbourne School of Continental Philosophy.

WHEN:

6pm – 7:30pm, Tuesday 21st March 2017

WHERE:

Building 9, Room 9.1.024

RMIT City Campus (cnr Bowen & Franklin)

ABOUT:

The Philosophies of Difference group (PoD) is a Melbourne based group of scholars working continental philosophy and interested in problems that have been marginal to the dominant traditions of Western thought. We engage with approaches including: critical philosophy of race, decolonial thought, feminist theory, Indigenous studies, philosophy of disability, philosophy of nature, queer theory, and trans philosophy. We especially welcome participation from women, people of colour, and other minority groups.

The PoD Seminar Series #3 is supported by the Communication, Politics and Culture Research Centre