Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe

Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe
Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe
Born	6 March 1940; Tours,France
Died	28 January 2007(aged 66); Paris,France
Era	20th-century philosophy
Region	Western philosophy
School	Continental philosophy; Deconstruction
Institutions	University of Strasbourg
Main interests	Literary criticism; Tragedy
Notable ideas	The literaryAbsolute(L'Absolu littéraire)

Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe(/ləˈkuːləˈbɑːrt/lə-KOOlə-BART,French:[lakulabaʁt];6 March 1940 – 28 January 2007) was a Frenchphilosopher.He was also aliterary criticandtranslator.Lacoue-Labarthe published several influential works with his friendJean-Luc Nancy.

Lacoue-Labarthe was influenced by and wrote extensively onMartin Heidegger,Jacques Derrida,Jacques Lacan,German Romanticism,Paul Celan,andGérard Granel.^[1]He also translated works by Heidegger, Celan,Friedrich Nietzsche,Friedrich Hölderlin,andWalter Benjamininto French.

Lacoue-Labarthe was a member and president of theCollège international de philosophie.

Work[edit]

Collaboration with Jean-Luc Nancy[edit]

Lacoue-Labarthe wrote several books and articles in collaboration withJean-Luc Nancy,a colleague at theUniversité Marc BlochinStrasbourg.Early collaborations includedLe Titre de la lettre: une lecture de Lacan(1973; trans.,The Title of the Letter: A Reading of Lacan) andL'Absolu littéraire: théorie de la littérature du romantisme allemand(1978; trans.,The Literary Absolute: The Theory of Literature in German Romanticism).

In 1980 Lacoue-Labarthe and Nancy organized a conference at Cerisy-la-Salle, centered around Derrida's 1968 paperLes fins de l'homme.Following this conference and at Derrida's request, in November 1980 Lacoue-Labarthe and Nancy founded theCentre de recherches philosophiques sur le politique(Centre for Philosophical Research on the Political). The Centre operated for four years, pursuing philosophical rather than empirical approaches to political questions. During that period Lacoue-Labarthe and Nancy produced several important papers, together and separately. Some of these texts appear inLes Fins de l'homme à partir du travail de Jacques Derrida: colloque de Cerisy, 23 juillet-2 août 1980(1981),Rejouer le politique(1981),La retrait du politique(1983), andLe mythe nazi(1991, revised edition; originally published asLes méchanismes du fascisme,1981). Many of these texts are gathered in translation inRetreating the Political(1997).

On Martin Heidegger[edit]

In 1986 Lacoue-Labarthe published a book on Celan and Heidegger entitledLa poésie comme expérience(1986; trans.,Poetry as Experience). Lacoue-Labarthe received hisdoctorat d'étatin 1987 with a jury led by Gérard Granel and including Derrida,George SteinerandJean-François Lyotard.The monograph submitted for that degree wasLa fiction du politique(1988; trans.,Heidegger, Art, and Politics), a study of Heidegger's relation toNational Socialism.These works predate the explosion of interest in the political dimensions of Heidegger's thought which followed the publication of a book byVictor Farías.

InPoetry as ExperienceLacoue-Labarthe argued that, even though Celan's poetry was deeply informed by Heidegger's philosophy, Celan was long aware of Heidegger's association with the Nazi party and therefore fundamentally circumspect toward the man and transformative in his reception of his work. Celan was nonetheless willing to meet Heidegger. Heidegger was a professed admirer of Celan's writing, although Celan's poetry never received the kind of philosophical attention which Heidegger gave to the work of poets such as Friedrich Hölderlin orGeorg Trakl.Celan's poem "Todtnauberg,"however, seems to hold out the possibility of a rapprochement between their work. In this respect Heidegger's work was perhaps redeemable for Celan, even if that redemption was not played out in the encounter between the two men.

Lacoue-Labarthe considered that Heidegger's greatest failure was not his involvement in the National Socialist movement but his "silence on the extermination" and his refusal to engage in a thorough deconstruction of Nazism. He also believed, however, that Heidegger's thought offers pathways to a philosophical confrontation with Nazism, pathways which Heidegger failed to follow, but which Lacoue-Labarthe did attempt to pursue.

Theatrical work[edit]

Lacoue-Labarthe was also involved in theatrical productions. He translated Hölderlin's version ofAntigone,and collaborated withMichel Deutsch[fr]to stage the work at theThéâtre national de Strasbourg[fr]on 15 and 30 June 1978.^[2]Lacoue-Labarthe and Deutsch returned to theThéâtre national de Strasbourgto collaborate on a 1980 production ofEuripides'Phoenician Women.^[3]Lacoue-Labarthe's translation of Hölderlin's version ofOedipus Rexwas staged inAvignonin 1998, withCharles Berlingin the title role.^[4]

Bibliography[edit]

French				English
Le Titre de la lettre: une lecture de Lacan	1973	ISBN 2-7186-0002-0	with Jean-Luc Nancy	The Title of the Letter: A Reading of Lacan	1992	ISBN 0-7914-0962-7	trans. François Raffoul and David Pettigrew
L'Absolu littéraire: théorie de la littérature du romantisme allemand	1978	ISBN 2-02-004936-8	with Jean-Luc Nancy	The Literary Absolute: The Theory of Literature in German Romanticism	1988	ISBN 0-88706-661-5	trans. Philip Barnard and Cheryl Lester
Portrait de l'artiste, en général	1979	ISBN 2-267-00162-4
Le Sujet de la philosophie: Typographies 1	1979	ISBN 2-08-226011-9		The Subject of Philosophy	1993	ISBN 0-8166-1698-1	trans. Thomas Trezise,Hugh J. Silvermanet al.*
Les Fins de l'homme à partir du travail de Jacques Derrida: colloque de Cerisy, 23 juillet-2 août 1980(ed.)	1981	ISBN 2-7186-0207-4	with Jean-Luc Nancy	seeRetreating the Politicalbelow for translations of their contributions
Rejouer le politique(ed.)	1981	ISBN	with Jean-Luc Nancy	seeRetreating the Politicalbelow for translations of their contributions
La retrait du politique(ed.)	1983	ISBN	with Jean-Luc Nancy	seeRetreating the Politicalbelow for translations of their contributions
Retrait de l’artiste en deux personnes	1985	ISBN 2-904546-04-9
L'Imitation des modernes: Typographies 2	1986	ISBN 2-08-226011-9		Typography: Mimesis, Philosophy, Politics	1989 (Harvard), 1998 (Stanford)	ISBN 0-8047-3282-5	ed.Christopher Fynsk*
La Poésie comme expérience	1986	ISBN 2-267-00438-0		Poetry as Experience	1999	ISBN 0-8047-3427-5	trans. Andrea Tarnowski
La Fiction du politique: Heidegger, l'art et la politique	1988, revised	ISBN 2-267-00531-X		Heidegger, Art, and Politics: the Fiction of the Political	1990	ISBN 0-631-17155-X	trans. Chris Turner
Sit venia verbo	1988	ISBN 2-267-00565-4	with Michel Deutsch
Musica ficta: figures de Wagner	1991	ISBN 2-267-00863-7		Musica ficta: Figures of Wagner	1994	ISBN 0-8047-2385-0	trans. Felicia McCarren
Le mythe nazi	1991	ISBN 2-87678-078-X	withJean-Luc Nancy
Pasolini, une improvisation: d’une sainteté	1995	ISBN 2-84103-037-7		"Pasolini, an improvisation: Of a Saintliness"	Umbr(a)2005	ISBN 0-9666452-8-6	trans. Steven Miller
Retreating the Political	1997	ISBN 0-415-15163-5	withJean-Luc Nancy,ed. Simon Sparks**
Métaphrasis; suivi de Le théâtre de Hölderlin	1998	ISBN 2-13-049336-X
Phrase	2000	ISBN 2-267-01561-7
Poétique de l'histoire	2002	ISBN 2-7186-0578-2
Heidegger: la politique du poème	2002	ISBN 2-7186-0593-6		Heidegger and the Politics of Poetry	2007	ISBN 0-252-03153-9	trans. Jeff Fort
Agonie terminée, agonie interminable	2004	ISBN 2-7186-0626-6
Le chant des muses: Petite conférence sur la musique	2005	ISBN 2-227-47528-5
L’«allégorie»: Suivi de Un commencement	2006	ISBN 2-7186-0724-6
Préface à la disparition	2009	ISBN 2-267-02033-5
Ecrits Sur l'Art	2009	ISBN 2-84066-282-5

* contents of this book do not correspond exactly to those of the book it otherwise translates

** collects essays from 1979, 1981, and 1983 and others not previously published

References[edit]

^On the influence of Granel, cf.,Audio recording of Lacoue-Labarthe discussing Granel^{[permanent dead link]}.
^The performance was attended by, among others,Sarah Kofman,who wrote a review in response. Cf., Sarah Kofman, "L'espace de la césure,"Critique34/379 (December 1978), pp. 1143–50; Tina Chanter, "Eating Words: Antigone as Kofman's Proper Name," inPenelope Deutscher& Kelly Oliver (eds.),Enigmas: Essays on Sarah Kofman(Ithaca & London: Cornell University Press, 1999), pp. 189–202; and Andrew Bush, "María Zambrano and the Survival of Antigone,"diacritics34 (3–4) (2004): 90–111.
^Website about Michel Deutsch Archived2008-06-20 at theWayback Machine.
^Actor's Metamorphosis Into Oedipus the Tyrant.

[1] On the influence of Granel, cf.,Audio recording of Lacoue-Labarthe discussing Granel^{[permanent dead link]}.

[2] The performance was attended by, among others,Sarah Kofman,who wrote a review in response. Cf., Sarah Kofman, "L'espace de la césure,"Critique34/379 (December 1978), pp. 1143–50; Tina Chanter, "Eating Words: Antigone as Kofman's Proper Name," inPenelope Deutscher& Kelly Oliver (eds.),Enigmas: Essays on Sarah Kofman(Ithaca & London: Cornell University Press, 1999), pp. 189–202; and Andrew Bush, "María Zambrano and the Survival of Antigone,"diacritics34 (3–4) (2004): 90–111.

[3] Website about Michel Deutsch Archived2008-06-20 at theWayback Machine.

[4] Actor's Metamorphosis Into Oedipus the Tyrant.

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