Diemo Landgraf | Acadia University (original) (raw)

Books by Diemo Landgraf

Im Frankreich des 19. Jahrhunderts geht die Entwicklung einer modernen Ästhetik im Werk Théophile... more Im Frankreich des 19. Jahrhunderts geht die Entwicklung einer modernen Ästhetik im Werk Théophile Gautiers, Charles Baudelaires, Gustave Flauberts und Joris-Karl Huysmans’ mit einer Kritik der modernen, als dekadent empfundenen Gesellschaft einher. Die Philosophie des gegen Ende seines Schaffens von der littérature décadente maßgeblich beeinflussten Friedrich Nietzsche ist ein Kulminationspunkt der europäischen Dekadenzkritik. Bereits bekannte Tendenzen wie der Vitalismus und die Abkehr von der traditionellen Moral als Antwort auf den Nihilismus liegen zentralen Motiven und Thesen wie dem Kult des Dionysischen, dem Gedanken der ewigen Wiederkunft und der Lehre vom Übermenschen zugrunde. Die Philosophie Nietzsches wiederum wurde um 1900 von nahezu allen bedeutenden an die littérature décadente anknüpfenden und die ästhetische Avantgarde vorbereitenden Autoren in Europa rezipiert, fiktional in Anwendung gebracht und dadurch kritisch reflektiert: von Gabriele D’Annunzio und André Gide über die spanische Generation von 1898 und Eça de Queirós bis zu Thomas Mann. Meine Studie Ethik und Ästhetik in der dekadenten Literatur vor und nach Nietzsche (Ethics and Aesthetics in Decadent Literature Before and After Nietzsche) untersucht diese Zusammenhänge gestützt auf Einzelinterpretationen von Werken der genannten Autoren unter besonderer Berücksichtigung des Spannungsverhältnisses zwischen Ethik und Ästhetik.

In the field of literary and cultural studies, the understanding of decadence is usually confined... more In the field of literary and cultural studies, the understanding of decadence is usually confined to aesthetic phenomena from Baudelaire to the European fin-de-siècle. The present interdisciplinary anthology, with contributions by Canadian, German, Italian, and Spanish scholars, aims to bridge the gap between decadence as it is traditionally understood in literary and cultural studies and its relevance to current phenomena. The chapters focus on historical and philosophical perspectives, discussions in the fields of cultural and language politics, literary texts, and movies from Europe and America since 1945.

Table of Contents:

Preface; Diemo Landgraf
PART I: HISTORICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVES
1. On the Notion of Decadence in the FRG and France after 1945 - with Examples by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Botho Strauß, and Richard Millet; Diemo Landgraf
2. 'In the very quick of the nightmare': Decadence and Mystics of Wilderness in Henry Miller's Cultural Criticism of Modernity; Mario Bosincu
3. The Function of Decadence and Ascendance in Analytic Philosophy; Jens Lemanski and Konstantin Alogas
4. Progress and Decadence - Poststructuralism as Progressivism; Gerald Hoffleit
PART II: DECADENCE AND THE POLITICS OF CULTURE AND LANGUAGE
5. The Concept of Decadence as Ideological and Law Enforcement Category in the GDR; Torben Ibs
6. 'Joual en stock' - The Controversial Issue of Language Quality and Autochthonous Standardization in Quebec; Claus D. Pusch
PART III: LITERARY AND FILM STUDIES
7. Michelangelo Antonioni's Early 'Trilogy of Decadence': L'avventura (1960), La notte (1961), L'eclisse (1962); Jakob Willis
8. Houellebecq's Fin-de-Siècle: Crisis of Society, Crisis of the Novel - Thematic and Poetological Intertextuality between Michel Houellebecq and Joris-Karl Huysmans; Betül Dilmac
9. The Shadow of Decadence: The Latin American Boom and the Taboo of the Spanish Novel of the Democratic Period; Pablo Sánchez
10. Exile and Writing: Alfredo Bryce Echenique and the Decadence of the Myth of Paris; Blanca Navarro Pardiñas
11. Tradition, (Post) Modernity, and Decadence in Vargas Llosa's Lituma en los Andes and Los cuadernos de don Rigoberto; Diemo Landgraf

Papers by Diemo Landgraf

The article analyses the function of intoxication and ecstasy as poetological metaphors in Guilla... more The article analyses the function of intoxication and ecstasy as poetological metaphors in Guillaume Apollinaire's "Alcools", highlighting innovative uses of them related to phenomena representative for modernity such as transgression as a value per se, nationalism, and a search for transcendence after the "Death of God".

This article analyses the analogies and differences concerning the representation of the Dionysia... more This article analyses the analogies and differences concerning the representation of the Dionysiac in Vargas Llosa's novel "Lituma en los Andes" and Nietzsches "The Birth of Tragedy".

Being closely related to l'ennui, leisure reveals itself to be deeply problematic within Baudelai... more Being closely related to l'ennui, leisure reveals itself to be deeply problematic within Baudelaire's oeuvre. It is the sphere where the individual is given the plainest autonomy - an ambivalent autonomy in modern society, where the individual has the onus of giving sense to his own live after the abolition of traditional religious and social structures. Hence the origin of nihilism and the crisis of modernity for which Baudelaire uses the term "décadence" in his essays on Edgar Allan Poe. My contribution analyses this phenomenon in several key poems of "Les Fleurs du Mal": "Au lecteur", "Bénédiction" and "Spleen" I and II.

Landgraf’s chapter sheds light on the intertextual references to nineteenth-century discourses ab... more Landgraf’s chapter sheds light on the intertextual references to nineteenth-century discourses about decadence in Mario Vargas Llosa’s novels Lituma en los Andes and Los cuadernos de don Rigoberto. While Vargas Llosa integrates motifs and aesthetic aspects that are typical for modernist and decadent nineteenth-century literature, the usual understanding of decadence is inverted. By demonizing tradition and the Dionysian principle and by idealizing hedonism and ultraliberalism, he promotes an ideology that, according to Nietzsche and Huysmans, is among the causes of modern decadence. In this sense, Vargas Llosa’s works can be seen as representative of postmodernism, understood as the completion of the ambivalent and corroding rise of modernity as theorized by Baudelaire and Nietzsche.

Landgraf’s chapter starts with an overview of the concept of decadence since the eighteenth centu... more Landgraf’s chapter starts with an overview of the concept of decadence since the eighteenth century and then examines its relevance after 1945 in the Federal Republic of Germany and France. Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s film Die Ehe der Maria Braun (The Marriage of Maria Braun, 1979), Botho Strauß’s essay “Anschwellender Bocksgesang” (“Goat Song Rising,” 1993), and Richard Millet’s essay Langue fantôme, suivi d’Éloge littéraire d’Anders Breivik (Phantom Language, Followed by Literary Praise of Anders Breivik, 2012) provide concrete examples of intellectual debates about decadence, all of which allude to the dwindling importance of Europe within the postwar order.

Este artículo parte de un examen de las perspectivas teóricas diferentes que se han aplicado para... more Este artículo parte de un examen de las perspectivas teóricas diferentes que se han aplicado para analizar el encuentro de las culturas quechua y criolla en la narrativa de Arguedas, centrándose especialmente en la teoría de la transculturación y en el deconstructivismo. Propone una reevaluación de la relación entre los dos mundos mediante un análisis semiótico de su representación en la obra arguediana. En este marco, la teoría de la memoria cultural permite echar una mirada nueva sobre el fenómeno de la hibridación cultural y la génesis e índole de las identidades colectivas.

Dans le recueil « Azul » de Rubén Darío, la représentation d’actions érotiques, cruelles et guerr... more Dans le recueil « Azul » de Rubén Darío, la représentation d’actions érotiques, cruelles et guerrières fait événement. Il ne s’agit là ni du sadisme ni d’un roman gothique, mais d’une attitude éthique et esthétique qu’on appellera « vitalisme ». Ce phénomène apparaît d’abord dans l’École du Parnasse et dans le décadentisme. De ce contexte littéraire découle la structure suivante : (1) On commencera par une brève révision des recherches sur la relation entre Darío et le décadentisme. (2) Ensuite, on établira une définition du vitalisme par une lecture critique de l’essai « Le peintre de la vie moderne » de Baudelaire et du roman « À rebours » de Huysmans. (3) Les résultats des analyses précédentes permettront de comprendre l’impact et les particularités du vitalisme dans « Azul » ; le poème « Estival », inspiré par l’École du Parnasse, et le conte « El Rubí » nous serviront d’exemples.

In current academic debate, it has become customary to conceive of identity as constructed. This ... more In current academic debate, it has become customary to conceive of identity as constructed. This is not surprising in so far as areas such as colonial, post colonial or minority studies generally deal with cases where asymmetrical relations of power can be found which allow the stronger group to define not only its own communicated image but also that of the other, inferior group. Further, this kind of constructed identity plays an important role in the political and social life of all societies. However, there are literary texts that deal with postcolonial or minority conflicts and at the same time show that the relevance of identity for the individual and society goes beyond the question of social and political power. In the work of Jorge Luis Borges, the stories “El Aleph” and “El Sur” provide intriguing examples which neither the traditional, normative notion of collective identity nor the postmodernist, deconstructionist approach are able to explain.

Edouard Dujardin’s novel Les lauriers sont coupés is especially known for introducing the interio... more Edouard Dujardin’s novel Les lauriers sont coupés is especially known for introducing the interior monologue/the stream of consciousness into literature and for having inspired James Joyce. Many other qualities of this short but highly complex and dense text have yet to be thoroughly fathomed. The present article re-evaluates Les lauriers sont coupés beyond the interior monologue by analyzing its particular relationship to French décadentisme, its use of religious symbolism, the psychological exploration of the triviality of everyday life, the parodic play with intertextuality (petrarchism), and the latent intermediality inspired by Richard Wagner’s concept of the Gesamtkunstwerk (synthesis of the arts).

In seiner komparatistischen Studie Il Romanzo di Formazione verweist Moretti (1986) auf die mit G... more In seiner komparatistischen Studie Il Romanzo di Formazione verweist Moretti (1986) auf die mit Goethes Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre erfolgte Geburt eines neuen Romantypus, der ihm zufolge die europäische Narrativik des 19. Jahrhun derts beherrsche: "È nato il Bildungsroman: la forma che domina -o, più esattamente, rende possibile -il secolo d'oro della narrativa occidentale". 1 Zwar differenziert er im Folgenden zwischen dem eigentlichen Bildungsroman und dem "romanzo di formazione" (Unterscheidungskriterium sei die dem Bildungsroman inhärente "retorica teleologica" im Gegensatz zur prinzipiellen Offenheit des Ausgangs der "romanzi di formazione") 2 doch ist er der Ansicht, dass es sich um letztlich eine Gattung handele, beispielhaft vertreten von einem

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