Ways of Re-Thinking Literature

Tom Bishop is the Florence Lacaze Gould Professor of French, Professor of French and Comparative Literature at New York University (NYU), USA. For fifty years, he served as Chair of the department of French at NYU and Director of the Center for French Civilization and Culture. Amongst his many publications are: From the Left Bank: Reflections on the Modern French Theater and Novel (1997) and Pirandello and the French Theater (1960, 1970). Donatien Grau is a Guest Curator at the Getty Museum, Los Angeles, USA. He holds a doctorat in French and comparative literature from the Sorbonne, France, and a DPhil from the University of Oxford, UK. He was twice a Guest Resarch Researcher at the Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles; a Florence Gould Lecturer, New York University; a Special Guest of French Studies, Cornell University; a Visiting Scholar, Stevanonich Institute for the Formation of Knowledge, University of Chicago; a teaching fellow, Sorbonne and Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, France.

• IntroductionTom Bishop and Donatien GrauPrelude: Golden DiscountJohn AshberyPart I: Literary Narratives The Disappearing Avant-GardeTom Bishop The Critical Life: Rethinking Biography in an Experimental ModeEmily Apter What Literature Can DoPhilippe Artières Some Notes Towards a Literary Conception of LiteratureDonatien GrauPart II: Literature and the Novel The Installation as NovelBoris Groys History of New NovelsAdam Thirlwell What becomes of the novel when the gods are coming backTristan GarciaPart III: Literature and the Poetic The Varieties of Literary ExperiencePeter Schjeldahl Intellection, Cognition, ContradictionLaurent Dubreuil Heiner Müller’s Lyric Loneliness and the Mythical BodyStathis Gourgouris The Route of the ImpossiblePaul AudiPart IV: A New Subjectivity Re-thinking, re-feeling literatureCamille Laurens Hoarding as Écriture Dodie Bellamy Corpse PoseWayne Koestenbaum The Shelley Jackson Vocational School for Ghost Speakers and Hearing-Mouth ChildrenShelley Jackson Some FragmentsMaël Renouard Fictional HabitationCamille de Toledo Act two: Why I am a destinyVanessa PlaceConclusion: Ay yay! The Cry of LiteratureHélène Cixous Index