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Literature, Philosophy, Nihilism The Uncanniest of Guests Shane Weller Literature, Philosophy, Nihilism Also by Shane Weller BECKETT, LITERATURE, AND THE ETHICS OF ALTERITY A TASTE FOR THE NEGATIVE: Beckett and Nihilism Literature, Philosophy, Nihilism The Uncanniest of Guests Shane Weller © Shane Weller 2008 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2008 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin’s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan® is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN-13: 978–0–230–55154–1 ISBN-10: 0–230–55154–8 hardback hardback This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Weller, Shane. Literature, philosophy, nihilism: the uncanniest of guests/Shane Weller. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0–230–55154–8 (alk. paper) 1. Nihilism (Philosophy)—History. 2. Literatures—Philosophy— History. I. Title. b828.3 W435 2008 149’.8—dc22 2008016425 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 Printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham and Eastbourne For L. This page intentionally left blank Contents Preface ix Introduction: What’s in a Name? 1 1 2 3 4 Absolute Devaluation: Friedrich Nietzsche 11 The time of nihilism Art, or the ‘superior counterforce’ The transfiguration of nihilism The aesthetic/ascetic turntable 11 21 27 31 Homelessness: Martin Heidegger 35 ‘Real nihilism’: Germany, 1933–5 From forgetting to ‘radical killing’ Abandonment and default Total demobilization Poetry and the becoming homely of a people Who are you? – the question of the poet’s friend 35 41 44 46 49 58 Fatal Positivities: Theodor Adorno 63 Life after Auschwitz, or the blasphemy of affirmation Art: the ‘ever broken promise of happiness’ The ‘protocol sentence’: Hölderlin and the birth of modern literature The difference within the negative: Adorno’s Beckett 63 72 The Naïve Calculation of the Negative: Maurice Blanchot The anguished writer, the nihilist, and the question of positive values Literature, scepticism, nihilism: Blanchot after Kojève Ambiguities and the limits of the negative The ‘vermin of nihilism’: literature and inexistence Retreating before the uncanniest of guests vii 78 81 86 86 89 94 103 109 viii Contents 5 6 7 8