We would kindly like to inform you of an interdisciplinary research colloquium on “The Sacred in Literature and Cultural Theory of Modernity” (“Das Heilige in Literatur und Kulturtheorie der Moderne”) at the Otto-Friedrich-University Bamberg from August 5th-7th, 2011. Please find more information about this event here.
The Luxury of Self-destruction. On Roger Caillois’ Concept of Mimesis
Speaker: Prof. Dr. John T. Hamilton (Harvard University, Cambridge/MA)
July 29th-31st 2011
ProLit Symposium
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, München (im Kloster Seeon)
In his study on “Mimicry and Legendary Psychasthenia” (1935) Roger Caillois relates the concept of mimesis to processes of depersonalization, the lure of space, the instinct of abandon, and the connection between love and death. His consideration of a biological basis for imitation confirms the age-old dictum that art imitates nature, but it does so in an altogether provocative fashion: In Caillois’s view the artistic impulse loses all agency—it is an act of intelligence without thinking, a type of creativity without art. In other words, the work of art stages the greatest and most dangerous luxury, namely the wasteful expenditure of the self. Following a brief overview of Caillois’s theory and its relationship to the work of Dumézil and Battaile, the lecture cites examples of surrealist praxis, which help determine the implications for mimetic art.
German version:
Holylit - AG Religion & Literature 