Enigmas: Essays on Sarah Kofman

Description

The work of the distinguished philosopher Sarah Kofman has, since her tragic death in 1994, become a focus for many scholars interested in contemporary French philosophy. The first critical collection on her thought to appear in English, Enigmas evaluates Kofman's most important contributions to philosophy, psychoanalytic theory, feminism, and literary theory. These insightful essays range from analyses of Kofman's first book, L'Enfance de l'art (1970), to her last, L'Imposture de la beaute (1995). This unique volume represents the major themes in Kofman's scholarship: literature and aesthetics; philosophy and metaphor; women, feminism, and psychoanalysis; and Jews and German nationalism. Selected essays explore and diagnose Kofman's personal struggles as they are reflected in her writing. Contents......Page 4 Acknowledgments......Page 6 Foreword: Run, Sarah! by Jean-Luc Nancy......Page 7 Introduction: Sarah Kofman's Skirts by Penelope Deutscher and Kelly Oliver......Page 16 KOFMAN ON FREUD......Page 17 KOFMAN AND FEMINIST PHILOSOPHY......Page 18 INTERPRETING THE PHILOSOPHER'S SEXUAL ECONOMY: THE DEBT TO PSYCHOANALYSIS......Page 19 ANALYZING THE RETURN OF METAPHYSICS......Page 20 KOFMAN'S LIFE......Page 22 LITERATURE AND AESTHETICS......Page 24 PHILOSOPHY AND METAPHOR......Page 29 WOMEN, FEMINISM, AND PSYCHOANALYSIS......Page 32 JEWS AND GERMAN NATIONALISM......Page 35 PART I: LITERATURE AND AESTHETICS......Page 38 1. The Imposture of Beauty: The Uncanniness of Oscar Wilde's Picture of Dorian Gray by Sarah Kofman......Page 40 BAD INFLUENCES......Page 41 THE MIRROR STAGE......Page 44 SCRREEN......Page 46 THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF MOURNING......Page 55 2. Don Giovanni, or the Art of Disappointing One's Admirers by Ann Smock......Page 64 GRAVE INSOUCIANCE......Page 69 DISPOSSESSION......Page 73 THE RISKS OF OPERAGOING......Page 74 UNRECOGNIZABLE BEAUTY......Page 78 LUCK......Page 79 3. Kofmans Hoffmann by Duncan Large......Page 82 THE REPRESSION OF WRITING ("THE DOUBLE IS/AND THE DEVIL")......Page 84 DIABOLICAL DOUBLES ("VATOUR ROUGE")......Page 89 "A HOFFMANNIANISM WITHOUT RESERVE" (AUTOBIOGRIFFURES)......Page 93 TRAVELS IN ATOPIA......Page 97 PART II: PHILOSOPHY AND METAPHOR......Page 100 4. Suffering Contradiction: Kofman on Nietzsche's Critique of Logic by Mary Beth Mader......Page 102 NIETZSCHE'S SUSPICION......Page 103 NIETZSCHE'S EPISTEMOLOGY......Page 104 WHY IS LOGIC A FALSIFICATION?......Page 105 NIETZSCHE'S GENEALOGICAL ARGUMENT CONTRA ARISTOTLE......Page 107 NIETZSCHE'S HERACLITEAN ARGUMENT......Page 108 THAT SAID.........Page 110 5. Nietzsche and Metaphor by Paul Patton......Page 112 6. Schemata of Ideology in Camera obscura and Specters of Marx by Pierre Lamarche......Page 124 THE INVERSION OF THE CAMERA OBSCURA......Page 126 THE SPECTER OF KOFMAN IN DERRIDA'S SPECTROLOGY......Page 138 7. How a Woman Philosophizes by Francoise Duroux......Page 149 WHAT CONSTITUTES THIS INNOVATION?......Page 150 PART III: WOMEN, FEMINISM, AND PSYCHOANALYSIS......Page 156 8. Rending Kant's Umbrella: Kofmans Diagnosis of Ethical Law by Natalie Alexander......Page 158 RESPECT IS AN UMBRELLA......Page 159 TO REND AND MEND THE FABRIC OF SEXUAL ECONOMY......Page 163 MORAL LAW AND THE MACHINERY OF WAR......Page 167 DIAGNOSING RESPECT......Page 171 9. Complicated Fidelity: Kofman's Freud (Reading The Childhood of Art with The Enigma of Woman) by Penelope Deutscher......Page 174 KOFMAN'S MIMETIC METHODOLOGY......Page 175 KOFMAN'S FREUD AND THE ENIGMA OF WOMAN......Page 179 KOFMAN'S FIDELITY......Page 180 BEHIND THE VEIL?......Page 184 PENIS ENVY AND MATRICIDE......Page 189 FETISHISM OR HAVING IT BOTH WAYS......Page 193 MOTHER'S SONS......Page 196 MATERNITY AND PATERNITY SPLIT BETWEEN TWO MOTHERS......Page 199 MIXED MESSAGES: TO EAT OR NOT TO EAT......Page 201 11. Eating Words: Antigone as Kofman's Proper Name by Tina Chanter......Page 204 KOFMAN'S IDENTIFICATION WITH ANTIGONE'S BURIAL RITUAL......Page 207 DEATH AND SACRIFICE: EATING HER WORDS......Page 210 PART IV: JEWS AND GERMAN NATIONALISM......Page 218 12. Kofman, Nietzsche, and the Jews by Alan D. Schrift......Page 220 CODA......Page 233 13. "Made in Germany": Judging National Identity Negatively by Diane Morgan......Page 234 Chapter 1. The Imposture of Beauty: The Uncanniness of Oscar Wilde's Picture of Dorian Gray......Page 250 Chapter 3. Kofman's Hoffmann......Page 257 Chapter 6. Schemata of Ideology in Camera obscura and Specters of Marx......Page 260 Chapter 8. Rending Kant's Umbrella: Kofman's Diagnosis of Ethical Law......Page 262 Chapter 9. Complicated Fidelity: Kofman's Freud......Page 264 Chapter 11. Eating Words: Antigone as Kofman's Proper Name......Page 265 Chapter 12. Kofman, Nietzsche, and the Jews......Page 266 Chapter 13. "Made in Germany": Judging National Identity Negatively......Page 267 Consolidated Bibliography......Page 269 Sarah Kofman: Bibliography, 1963-1998......Page 279 About the Contributors......Page 291 235,54,64,76,79......Page 5