At the Abyss - Today and Tomorrow

This term, renowned philosopher Prof. Dr. em. Jean-Luc Nancy (Université de Strasbourg) will give a lecture and a workshop for PhD, MA and BA students. We are very much looking forward to working with Prof. Nancy and discussing literature and philosophy as a threshold, counterpoint - and abyss. The lecture and workshop were preceded by a preparatory reading course for BA and MA students, which was organised and taught by the GSPoL members Hector Feliciano and Michael Mason.

The event will be hosted at the GSPoL with the support of the International Office and Prof. Dr. Cerstin Bauer-Funke from the Romance Studies Department.

For the public lecture, Prof. Nancy will share his observations on the idea of the abyss - as the death of god, the end of the law of causation have left us with no metaphysical "Grund" (German for "reason" as well as "ground"). Instead of resorting to a nihilist position, Nancy advocates for conceiving of the abyss as non-negative. The question of the (inexistence of) the author will guide the lecture's thoughts. That there is no author has been shown many times. The question of an oevure's singularity remains. How can we speak of this special something today?

Please contact us by email if you are interested in joining the event via Zoom.