| Writing Cogito: Montaigne, Descartes, and the Institution of the Modern Subject Contributor(s): Melehy, Hassan (Author) |
|
 |
ISBN: 0791435725 ISBN-13: 9780791435724 Publisher: State University of New York Press OUR PRICE: $33.20 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: October 1997 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Literary Criticism | Semiotics & Theory - Philosophy | History & Surveys - Modern |
| Dewey: 194 |
| LCCN: 97000679 |
| Series: Suny Series, the Margins of Literature |
| Physical Information: 0.51" H x 5.88" W x 8.94" (0.64 lbs) 210 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - 16th Century - Chronological Period - 17th Century - Cultural Region - French |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Combining literary theory and history with detailed textual analysis, Melehy examines a series of events at the outset of modernity involving both literature and philosophy. Through the work of Michel de Montaigne and Rene Descartes, Melehy considers the question of the foundation of the human subject, in the context of contemporary debates in literature and philosophy. Montaigne, through writing, examines the many possibilities of subjective experience, and finds that the subject takes shape in writing. Descartes comes to the subject in search of a principle to circumvent the uncertainty of language--I think, therefore I am, the cogito. But Descartes, Melehy shows, must continually depend on literary devices, on the properties of language whose effects he is so eager to escape--also deploying the devices to disguise the fact that they permeate his work. |