[csaa-forum] RESEARCH SEMINAR 18 AUGUST: ANDREA VESTRUCCI on UNIVERSALITY AND PERSONALITY IN THOMAS MANN’S JOSEPH UND SEINE BRŰDER TETRALOGY

[Andrew Milner]

CENTRE FOR COMPARATIVE LITERATURE AND CULTURAL STUDIES
Monash University, Melbourne.

RESEARCH SEMINAR

Wednesday 18 August, 3.00 to 4.30 pm, Room W710, Menzies Building 
(Building 11)

UNIVERSALITY AND PERSONALITY IN THOMAS MANN’S JOSEPH UND SEINE BRŰDER 
TETRALOGY

Andrea Vestrucci

Andrea Vestrucci is Postdoctoral Fellow in Philosophy at the
University of Milan. His PhD thesis, Autonomia ed eteronomia,
formalismo e concretezza. Analisi comparativa tra le filosofie morali
di Ágnes Heller e Eric Weil, was a comparative analysis of the theory
of morals in Heller and Weil.

Abstract

The paper presents an analysis of Mann’s Joseph tetralogy through the
interpretation of the dialectic of universality and personality as an
element of the formal construction of the novel. The weave between the
necessity of the universal and typical role played by a character and
the spontaneity of the specific personality of the character could be
conceived as the source of meaning of the character of the novel – as
an aesthetic manifestation of the process of the universalisation of
the ‘liberation’ of the individual from physical, social, historical
contingency: a process than results in the gain of meaning from the
individuality of the individual through the possibility of the
(self-)understanding and (self-)recognition of the idiosyncrasy
itself.

ALL WELCOME

For further details contact Professor Andrew Benjamin
<Andrew.Benjamin at monash.edu>


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Centre for Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies
School of English, Communications and Performance Studies
Monash University
Melbourne
Victoria 3800
AUSTRALIA

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