Death's Following : : Mediocrity, Dirtiness, Adulthood, Literature / / John Limon.
Almost all twentieth-century philosophy stresses the immanence of death in human life—as drive (Freud), as the context of Being (Heidegger), as the essence of our defining ethics (Levinas), or as language (de Man, Blanchot). In Death’s Following, John Limon makes use of literary analysis (of Sebald,...
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Place / Publishing House: | New York, NY : : Fordham University Press, , [2022] ©2012 |
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Limon, John, author. aut http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators/aut Death's Following : Mediocrity, Dirtiness, Adulthood, Literature / John Limon. New York, NY : Fordham University Press, [2022] ©2012 1 online resource (212 p.) : 2 Illustrations, black and white text txt rdacontent computer c rdamedia online resource cr rdacarrier text file PDF rda Frontmatter -- Contents -- Text and Doctrine: Adulthood and Dirtiness -- 1. Preliminary Expectoration -- 2. Alas a Dirty Third: Th e Logic of Death -- Reasons: Mediocrity, Melancholy, and Play -- 3. Thomas Bernhard’s Rant -- 4. Following Sebald -- 5. Tickling the Corpse: Tom Stoppard’s Memento Mori -- Uses: Coming to Death in Autobiography and Culture -- 6. Don Rickles’s Rant -- 7. Too Late, My Brothers -- 8. Re: Barth -- Notes -- Index restricted access http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec online access with authorization star Almost all twentieth-century philosophy stresses the immanence of death in human life—as drive (Freud), as the context of Being (Heidegger), as the essence of our defining ethics (Levinas), or as language (de Man, Blanchot). In Death’s Following, John Limon makes use of literary analysis (of Sebald, Bernhard, and Stoppard), cultural analysis, and autobiography to argue that death is best conceived as always transcendentally beyond ourselves, neither immanent nor imminent. Adapting Kierkegaard’s variations on the theme of Abraham’s near-sacrifice of Isaac while refocusing the emphasis onto Isaac, Limon argues that death should be imagined as if hiding at the end of an inexplicable journey to Moriah. The point is not to evade or ignore death but to conceive it more truly, repulsively, and pervasively in its camouflage: for example, in jokes, in logical puzzles, in bowdlerized folk songs. The first of Limon’s two key concepts is adulthood: the prolonged anti-ritual for experiencing the full distance on the look of death. His second is dirtiness, as theorized in a Jewish joke, a logical exemplum, and T. S. Eliot’s “Ash Wednesday”: In each case, unseen dirt on foreheads suggests the invisibility of inferred death. Not recognizing death immediately or admitting its immanence and imminence is for Heidegger the defining characteristic of the “they,” humanity in its inauthentic social escapism. But Limon vouches throughout for the mediocrity of the “they” in its dirty and ludicrous adulthood. Mediocrity is the privileged position for previewing death, in Limon’s opinion: practice for being forgotten. In refusing the call of twentieth-century philosophy to face death courageously, Limon urges the ethical and aesthetic value of mediocre anti-heroism. Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web. In English. Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 03. Jan 2023) LITERARY CRITICISM / General. bisacsh Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Fordham University Press Complete eBook-Package Pre-2014 9783111189604 Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Fordham University Press eBook-Package Backlist 2000-2013 9783110707298 print 9780823242801 https://doi.org/10.1515/9780823291342 https://www.degruyter.com/isbn/9780823291342 Cover https://www.degruyter.com/document/cover/isbn/9780823291342/original |
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English |
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Limon, John, Limon, John, |
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Limon, John, Limon, John, Death's Following : Mediocrity, Dirtiness, Adulthood, Literature / Frontmatter -- Contents -- Text and Doctrine: Adulthood and Dirtiness -- 1. Preliminary Expectoration -- 2. Alas a Dirty Third: Th e Logic of Death -- Reasons: Mediocrity, Melancholy, and Play -- 3. Thomas Bernhard’s Rant -- 4. Following Sebald -- 5. Tickling the Corpse: Tom Stoppard’s Memento Mori -- Uses: Coming to Death in Autobiography and Culture -- 6. Don Rickles’s Rant -- 7. Too Late, My Brothers -- 8. Re: Barth -- Notes -- Index |
author_facet |
Limon, John, Limon, John, |
author_variant |
j l jl j l jl |
author_role |
VerfasserIn VerfasserIn |
author_sort |
Limon, John, |
title |
Death's Following : Mediocrity, Dirtiness, Adulthood, Literature / |
title_sub |
Mediocrity, Dirtiness, Adulthood, Literature / |
title_full |
Death's Following : Mediocrity, Dirtiness, Adulthood, Literature / John Limon. |
title_fullStr |
Death's Following : Mediocrity, Dirtiness, Adulthood, Literature / John Limon. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Death's Following : Mediocrity, Dirtiness, Adulthood, Literature / John Limon. |
title_auth |
Death's Following : Mediocrity, Dirtiness, Adulthood, Literature / |
title_alt |
Frontmatter -- Contents -- Text and Doctrine: Adulthood and Dirtiness -- 1. Preliminary Expectoration -- 2. Alas a Dirty Third: Th e Logic of Death -- Reasons: Mediocrity, Melancholy, and Play -- 3. Thomas Bernhard’s Rant -- 4. Following Sebald -- 5. Tickling the Corpse: Tom Stoppard’s Memento Mori -- Uses: Coming to Death in Autobiography and Culture -- 6. Don Rickles’s Rant -- 7. Too Late, My Brothers -- 8. Re: Barth -- Notes -- Index |
title_new |
Death's Following : |
title_sort |
death's following : mediocrity, dirtiness, adulthood, literature / |
publisher |
Fordham University Press, |
publishDate |
2022 |
physical |
1 online resource (212 p.) : 2 Illustrations, black and white |
contents |
Frontmatter -- Contents -- Text and Doctrine: Adulthood and Dirtiness -- 1. Preliminary Expectoration -- 2. Alas a Dirty Third: Th e Logic of Death -- Reasons: Mediocrity, Melancholy, and Play -- 3. Thomas Bernhard’s Rant -- 4. Following Sebald -- 5. Tickling the Corpse: Tom Stoppard’s Memento Mori -- Uses: Coming to Death in Autobiography and Culture -- 6. Don Rickles’s Rant -- 7. Too Late, My Brothers -- 8. Re: Barth -- Notes -- Index |
isbn |
9780823291342 9783111189604 9783110707298 9780823242801 |
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https://doi.org/10.1515/9780823291342 https://www.degruyter.com/isbn/9780823291342 https://www.degruyter.com/document/cover/isbn/9780823291342/original |
illustrated |
Not Illustrated |
doi_str_mv |
10.1515/9780823291342 |
oclc_num |
1306539089 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT limonjohn deathsfollowingmediocritydirtinessadulthoodliterature |
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n |
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(DE-B1597)565924 (OCoLC)1306539089 |
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Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Fordham University Press Complete eBook-Package Pre-2014 Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Fordham University Press eBook-Package Backlist 2000-2013 |
is_hierarchy_title |
Death's Following : Mediocrity, Dirtiness, Adulthood, Literature / |
container_title |
Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Fordham University Press Complete eBook-Package Pre-2014 |
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