Laforgue, Philosophy, and Ideas of Otherness

Bootle, Sam

Laforgue, Philosophy, and Ideas of Otherness

Bootle, Sam

Authors

Dr Samuel Bootle s.d.bootle@durham.ac.uk
Associate Professor

Abstract

In late nineteenth-century France, the pessimist philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer and Eduard von Hartmann was often portrayed as a disease-like force infecting the French body politic. For many French writers, however, German philosophy’s ‘otherness’ was a source of fascination, and foremost among them was Jules Laforgue. This monograph, the first full-length study of Laforgue in English for 25 years, reveals how Laforgue’s formative encounter with Schopenhauer and Hartmann was crucially informed by ideas of otherness, ideas that were associated not only with their work but also with German culture in general, and with the Eastern thought that both philosophers drew on. Through close textual analysis, the book shows how Laforgue’s dynamic engagement with philosophical thought – manifest in his highly innovative verse as well as his unpublished notes – is bound up with a challenge to nationalistic thinking.

Citation

Bootle, S. (2018). Laforgue, Philosophy, and Ideas of Otherness. Legenda

Book Type	Authored Book
Acceptance Date	Apr 7, 2017
Online Publication Date	May 25, 2018
Publication Date	May 25, 2018
Deposit Date	Jan 16, 2014
Publicly Available Date	May 25, 2019
Series Title	Research monographs in French studies
Series ISSN	1466-8157
Publisher URL	http://www.mhra.org.uk/publications/Laforgue-Philosophy-Ideas-Otherness