Levinas, Law and Literature

One cannot effectively approach Emmanuel Levinas’s philosophical works without recognizing the importance modern literature plays in his writings. From Baudelaire to Dostojevski, from Blanchot to Celan, and from Kafka to Grossman, the references to major modern and contemporary writers are manifest throughout Levinas’s reflections. Whether as a source of inspiration or as metaphoric expression of his thoughts, these references mark a constitutive element of the articulation and development of his own philosophy. This is all the more astonishing given that Levinas has many reasons to distrust the ambivalences of literary works. Indeed, his entire philosophy intends to overcome the tragic model (with its origins in Aristotle) so as to understand being; moreover, he rejects the idea that mimetic representation constitutes a modality for adequate description of the human condition. Levinas states that the meaning of the ethical commandment exceeds all metaphoric and poetic expression, and, at crucial moments in his philosophy, he quotes Talmudic verses as if they are philosophical arguments.

It would seem that Levinas is, in his own way, challenging the Western concept of literature. It may be that he agrees with Jacques Derrida’s idea of the Biblical origin of this concept, yet questions remain as to how Levinas understands this idea and how his philosophy transforms the concept of literature. Answering these key questions will be the general aim of a three-day conference organized by the Institute of Jewish Studies in collaboration with the Center for European Philosophy.

Special attention will be given to the poems, novel fragments, and reflections on metaphor and literature in the recently published volumes of the Oeuvres Complètes.

Programma

Wednesday 20 January 2016

14.00-14.30 Welcome and introduction
14.30-15.30 Keynote lecture: Levinas and the Sun
Richard Cohen (University at Buffalo)
Respondent: Arthur Cools (UAntwerpen)
15.30-16.00 Coffee break
16.00-17.30 Session I: Levinas and the Concept of Literature
Chair: Arthur Cools (UAntwerpen)
- 16.00-16.30 If Hölderlin is allowed, why not the Talmud? The Significance of the
  Talmud in the Philosophy of Levinas
  Marcel Poorthuis (Tilburg School of Theology)
- 16.30-17.00 Ethical Interpretation of Literary Works. Literal Reading of
  Levinas's Writings on Ethics
  Hanoch Ben Pazi (Bar Ilan University)
- 17.00-17.30 The Literary Consciousness: from il y a AND from/to the Other
  Rossitsa V. Borkowski (University of Amsterdam)
20.00 Keynote lecture: A World without Contours: Levinas’s Critiques of Literary
            Freedom
            Sarah Hammerschlag (University of Chicago Divinity School)
            Respondent: Vivian Liska (Institute of Jewish Studies, UAntwerpen)

Thursday 21 January 2016

09.00-10.00 Keynote lecture: L'écriture du survivant
François-David Sebbah (Université Paris Ouest Nanterre)
10.00-10.30 Coffee break
10.30-12.30 Session II : Levinas and Poetry
Chair: Luc Anckaert (KU Leuven)
- 10.30-11.00 “Call it poetry or whatever” – On the Relation of Art to Poetry in
  Levinas
  Akos Krassoy (KU Leuven)
- 11.00-11.30 Enigma vs. Metaphor
  Shira Wolosky (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
- 11.30-12.00 Langage poétique et langage prophétique dans l'oeuvre de
  Levinas [sous réserve]
  Eric Hoppenot (Université Paris Sorbonne-ESPE)
- 12.00-12.30 Levinas et la parole poétique
  Annelies Schulte Nordholt (Leiden University)
12.30-14.00 Lunch
14.00-16.00 Session III: Levinas and Rhetoric
Chair: Vivian Liska (IJS, UAntwerpen)
- 14.00-14.30 Levinas's Literary Style
  Annabel Herzog (University of Haifa)
- 14.30-15.00 Totality and Infinity as Philosophical Prose: The Literary Aesthetics
  of Emanuel Levinas' Argumentation
  Orr Scharf (The Open University of Israel)
- 15.00-15.30 "le vrai Jugement dernier": Levinas and Benjamin on Theory,
  the Poetic Word, and the Event in Proust
  Ashraf Noor (Universität Düsseldorf)
- 15.30-16.00 de l'Eros au discours sur la mort de Dieu
  Michaël de Saint-Chéron (Histara/Ecole Pratique des Hautes
  Etudes)
16.00-16.30 Coffee break
16.30-17.30 Parallel session – Emerging scholars panel
- 16.30-17.00 Toward a Literary Judaism: A Contemporary Case in Literary Ethics
                          Jonathon Catlin (KU Leuven)
                          Le "bourgeois" dans la pensée d'Emmanuel Levinas:
                          un héritage littéraire
                        Yoann Colin (Université de Strasbourg)
- 17.00-17.30 "Poems are laws grown feral": Messianism and Literature in
                          Levinas
                         Michael Saunders (Kingston University)
                         The Destitution of Words - The Aporia of Writing in Totality and
                         Infinity
                         Jakub Kowalewski (University of Essex)
18.00 Conference dinner (speakers only)

Friday 22 January 2016

09.00-10.00 Keynote lecture: Emmanuel Levinas. La littérature comme expression
de l'altérité et de la rencontre
Christian Godin (Université Blaise Pascal, Clermont-Ferrand)
10.00-10.30 Coffee break
10.30-12.30 Session IV: Levinas and Talmud
Chair: Dennis Baert (IJS, UAntwerpen)
- 10.30-11.00 The Genesis of Totality and Infinity: Biblical Narrative as
  Transcendental Ontogenesis
  Michael Fagenblat (Open University of Israel)
- 11.00-11.30 Levinas's Hermeneutics – A Modern Midrash
  Elisabeth Goldwyn (University of Haifa)
- 11.30-12.00 Testimony as Description: The Phenomenological “Justification” of
  the Biblical Verse in Levinas
  Cameron Doody (Camilo José Cela University)
- 12.00-12.30 “Until the rains fall down on the corpses…” Reading Gender in
  Levinas’s “Toward the Other”
  Claire Katz (Texas A&M University)
12.30-13.30 Lunch
13.30-15.00 Session V: Levinas and the Social
Chair: Arthur Cools (UAntwerpen)
- 13.30-14.00 Goodness without Hope. Hope without Promise. Emmanuel
  Levinas and Vasily Grossman
  Luc Anckaert (KU Leuven)
- 14.00-14.30 Levinas, Derrida and the Politics of Reproduction
  Mihail Evans (Institute for Advanced Study/New Europe College)
- 14.30-15.00 L’action humaine et l'oeuvre littéraire - Levinas, Bloch et Kosik
  Jan Bierhanzl (Institute of Philosophy of the Academy of Sciences
  of the Czech Republic)

Inschrijven

Klik hier om u in te schrijven voor deze conferentie.

Brochure

Klik hier om de brochure van de conferentie te downloaden.

Venue

De conferentie vindt plaats in het Hof van Liere:

Op 20 en 21 januari in de Elsschotzaal, Prinsstraat 13b, 2000 Antwerpen.
Op 22 januari in het Prentenkabinet, Prinsstraat 13, 2000 Antwerpen.

Call for papers (closed)

Call for Papers: international conference "Levinas, Law and Literature"
January, 20–22, 2016, Antwerp
Organized by the Institute of Jewish Studies (University of Antwerp) and the Center for European Philosophy (University of Antwerp)

Abstract submission deadline: 20/09/2015

Call for papers

The organizing committee welcomes submissions that address the role and the meaning of literature as it can be discovered in or derived from Levinas’s philosophy.

Proposals may address themes such as the following:

What is the place of literature in Levinas's philosophy?
How does Levinas read a specific literary work or writer?
What is the concept of literature that Levinas implicitly addresses?
How does the ethical commandment, so central in his philosophy, relate to literature?
How do the Talmudic references in his texts contribute to a specific (Western?) understanding of literature?

Please submit your abstract, in either French or English, of approximately 500 words (including the paper’s title, the author’s name, institutional affiliation, mailing address, and email address) together with a short bio-bibliography to ijs@uantwerpen.be BEFORE 20/09/2015. Notification of acceptance will be given by 20/10/2015.

Regular fee: 40 € (includes reception, two lunches, coffee breaks and conference map)
Student fee: 30 €
Conference dinner: 40 €

Organizing committee: Prof. dr. Vivian Liska (Institute of Jewish Studies, University of Antwerp), Prof. dr. Arthur Cools (Center for European Philosophy, University of Antwerp), Dr. Michaël de Saint-Cheron (Histara/Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris 3), Prof. dr. Luc Anckaert (KU Leuven)
Scientific committee: Prof. dr. Vivian Liska (Institute of Jewish Studies, University of Antwerp), Prof. dr. Arthur Cools (Center for European Philosophy, University of Antwerp), Dr. Michaël de Saint-Cheron (Histara/Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris 3), Prof. dr. Luc Anckaert (KU Leuven), Prof. dr. Eric Hoppenot (ESPE, Université Paris-Sorbonne), Prof. dr. Johan van der Walt (Université de Luxembourg)