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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black">Philosophy @ UWS Seminars 2014<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color:black">The Writing and Society Research Centre and Philosophy @ UWS</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color:#1F497D">
</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color:black">present:</span><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color:black">Associate Professor Alison Ross<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">ARC Future Fellow, Monash University<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black">TITLE:</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> <b>The</b></span><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black">
figures of ‘hope’ and ‘redemption’ in Benjamin’s ‘Goethe’s Elective Affinities’ essay</span><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color:black">DATE/TIME:</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color:black"> Wednesday April 2, 3.30 pm - 5.00 pm</span><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color:black">PLACE:</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color:black"> University of Western Sydney, Bankstown Campus, Building 3, Room 3.G.27</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color:#1F497D"> </span><a href="http://www.uws.edu.au/campuses_structure/cas/campuses/bankstown" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US">[How
to get to Bankstown Campus]</span></a><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color:black">Abstract: <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">In ‘Goethe’s Elective Affinities’ (1924/5) Benjamin tackles the question of how Goethe’s novel presents the feeling of hope for redemption. The essay sets out a contrast between the anxiety and paralysis that Benjamin identifies
as features of the mythic life and the transcendent breach of the revelation. The mythic life is guided by ambiguous sensible forms, which are presumed to contain meaningful communication. In contrast to myth, Benjamin describes the feeling of hope for redemption
as akin to a caesura or break with the self-sufficient sensible form. The essay thus pivots on a polemic against aesthetic form, which Benjamin treats in the pejorative vocabulary of semblance and bourgeois choice. Nonetheless, Benjamin’s treatment of the
feeling of hope for redemption has striking similarities with the aesthetic feeling of the sublime, as this is described in Kantian aesthetics. As such, the mark of the exit from the captivating semblance is arguably another aesthetic figure, rather than a
transcendent breach. The point is admittedly a complicated one, especially if we take into account the fact that the sublime, in its Kantian articulation, is a feeling that does not require sensible presentation. Such a feeling, I will argue, nevertheless
carries by virtue of its context and implications, the qualities of the aesthetic that Benjamin’s essay otherwise denounces as grounded in myth.</span><span lang="EN" style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#5C5C5C"><br>
<br>
</span><a href="http://www.monash.edu.au/research/people/profiles/profile.html?sid=3227&pid=3385"><span lang="EN">Alison Ross</span></a><span style="color:#5C5C5C">
</span><span lang="EN">is an ARC Future Fellow in the Philosophy Department at Monash University. She works on the history of modern philosophy, contemporary French and German thought, and aesthetics. Her publications include
<em><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">The Aesthetic Paths of Philosophy: Presentation in Kant, Heidegger, Lacoue-Labarthe and Nancy</span></em> (2007). Most recently, she has published the co-edited study
<em><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Jacques Rancière and the Contemporary Scene</span></em> (with Jean-Philippe Deranty, 2012). Her new book
<em><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Walter Benjamin’s Concept of the Image</span></em> is due out later this year.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><img border="0" width="32" height="32" id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image001.jpg@01CE9746.9AC3C830" alt="Alumni Facebook">Visit Philosophy @ UWS on Facebook:
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/philosophyuws">https://www.facebook.com/philosophyuws</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For future research seminars on Philosophy, please visit <a href="http://www.uws.edu.au/philosophy/seminars2014">
www.uws.edu.au/philosophy/seminars2014</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">- - - - - - - - -<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><br>
</span>Mariana Fragueiro<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Administration Coordinator, Philosophy Research Initiative<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">University of Western Sydney<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Bankstown Campus Building 5<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Locked Bag 1797<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Penrith NSW 2751<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">+61 2 9772 6190<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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