Have I found my guru? Could it be Edouard Glissant? Don't worry if you have never heard of him, I have only discovered his work recently. I've never had a guru and thought I never would. I was listening to a philosophy program on French Radio. Edouard Glissant was being interviewed. Glissant means sliding, a significant name.... He was explaining how he rejects the idea of a universal system of thought. A light went on. In my mind. I have been playing with the idea that a human being does not constitute a coherent logical system. Philosophers always write as if one should subscribe to just one system of thought, which happens to be theirs. Glissant states that such a system is repressive, a conclusion which I had arrived to. I read texts by philosophers, and I also ask myself, of what right? From whose thigh do they think they are born to be so sure of their own theories? I perceive myself as a mosaic of elements: experiences, thoughts, feelings, imagination, fears, hopes, illusions. The only coherent aspect of this system comes from the fact that I produce them. These contradictions provide me with a richness in which I delight, and I'm sure others enjoy theirs too.
I have bought, for a small fortune, La Poétique de la Relation (Poetics of relation), by Glissant, and I'm diving into it. His style, consistent with his philosophy, is ... sliding, glissant. Poetic and allusive. I'll keep you posted as I read.
Communicated by - Arabella Hutter
Edouard Glissant was my Ph.D. supervisor and is, par excellence, my guru.
ReplyDeleteHow cool! I'm so intrigued by the fact that his thinking combines left and right brain. What was your Ph.D. about and in which language?
ReplyDeleteThe title is "The Legacy of French Rule in India (1674-1954): an investigation of a process of creolization." It is in English and was published by the French Institute of Pondicherry last year. Information about the book as well as purchasing information about it can be found by going to the ifpindia.org website. It also has a two-page preface in French by Edouard Glissant.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a very interesting subject, riveting! Incidentally I have been reading Glissant and finding it quite hard to grasp. Would you like to be my blog guest and write an entry about his work, or your relationship to his work? And maybe a second one about your thesis book? That'd be awesome, and I would write the translation in French if that was agreeable.
ReplyDeleteTout d'abord, je voulais vous dire que je parle le francais aussi. Mes discussions avec Edouard Glissant ont toujours ete en francais. Je serais ravi d'etre votre invite sur votre blog. Vous avez tout a fait raison que Glissant n'est pas facile a comprendre. La creolisation qui constitue un element element important de la these de Glissant est peut-etre le domaine de son travail que je connais le mieux et ma these de doctorat est issue de ce sujet. Ce serait donc, pour moi, le meilleur point d'entree dans son oeuvre et, par la suite, dans la mienne.
ReplyDelete*Veuillez m'excuser l'absence d'accents etc. que je n'arrive pas a taper ici.*
Bonjour, je suis ravie! Vous propose de communiquer par mail, vous êtes en Europe ou en Asie d'après l'heure de vos communications?! Mon adresse: ar-hu(at)earthlink.net, et je crois que mon nom ne figure pas sur mon blog: Arabella Hutter
ReplyDeleteArabella,
ReplyDeleteOn page 174 of Glissant's novel, "Le Quatrième Siècle," the following passage talks about the right side of the brain. Interestingly, in my first exchange with you (above), you spoke about Glissant's thinking combining both the left and right sides of the brain:
"On croirait qu’à force de couper le bras droit, et puis la jambe droite, ils ont fini par amputer tout un côté du corps: un poumon, un testicule, un œil, une oreille. Et voilà peut-être ce qu’il faut chercher dans l’entassement: cette partie de toi où la brûlure sillonne comme un éclair, et qui pourtant est restée loin de toi dans les bois ou sur la mer ou dans le pays là-bas: la moitié droite du cerveau."