Author: Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe File Type: pdf Rousseaus opposition to the theater is well known Far from purging the passions, it serves only to exacerbate them, and to render them hypocritical. But is it possible that Rousseaus texts reveal a different conception of theatrical imitation, a more originary form of mimesis? Over and against Heideggers dismissal of Rousseau in the 1930s, and in the wake of classic readings by Jacques Derrida and Jean Starobinski, Lacoue-Labarthe asserts the deeply philosophical importance of Rousseau as a thinker who, without formalizing it as such, established a dialectical logic that would determine the future of philosophy an originary theatricality arising from a dialectic between nature and its supplements.Beginning with a reading of Rousseaus Discourse on Inequality, Lacoue-Labarthe brings out this dialectic in properly philosophical terms, revealing nothing less than a transcendental thinking of origins. For Rousseau, the origin has the form of a scenethat is, of theater. On this basis, Rousseaus texts on the theater, especially the Letter to dAlembert, emerge as an incisive interrogation of Aristotles Poetics. This can be read not in the false and conventional interpretation of this text that Rousseau had inherited, but rather in relation to its fundamental concepts, mimesis and katharsis, and in Rousseaus interpretation of Greek theater itself. If for Rousseau mimesis is originary, a transcendental structure, katharsis is in turn the basis of a dialectical movement, an Aufhebung that will translate the word itself (for, as Lacoue-Labarthe reminds us, Aufheben translates katharein). By reversing the facilities of the Platonic critique, Rousseau inaugurates what we could call the philosophical theater of the future.**ReviewNow available in Jeff Forts impeccable translation, The Poetics of History is the culmination of Philippe Lacoue-Labarthes lifetime work on the question of mimesis in Rousseaua question of crucial importance that had never before been posed or answered in this form. Identifying in Rousseau an onto-technology so radical that it challenges his supposed anti-theatricality, The Poetics of History redefines both poetics and history even as it offers a new way of understanding the French reception of Heidegger. (Andrew Parker, Rutgers University) From the Back CoverNow available in Jeff Forts impeccable translation, The Poetics of History is the culmination of Philippe Lacoue-Labarthes lifetime work on the question of mimesis in Rousseaua question of crucial importance that had never before been posed or answered in this form. Identifying in Rousseau an onto-technology so radical that it challenges his supposed anti-theatricality, The Poetics of History redefines both poetics and history even as it offers a new way of understanding the French reception of Heidegger.Andrew Parker, Rutgers UniversityRousseaus opposition to the theater is well known Far from purging the passions, it serves only to exacerbate them, and to render them hypocritical. But is it possible that Rousseaus texts reveal a different conception of theatrical imitation, a more originary form of mimesis? Over and against Heideggers dismissal of Rousseau in the 1930s, Lacoue-Labarthe asserts the deeply philosophical importance of Rousseau as a thinker who, without formalizing it as such, established a dialectical logic of originary theatricality that would determine the future of philosophy.Beginning with a reading of Rousseaus Discourse on Inequality, Lacoue-Labarthe brings out this dialectic in properly philosophical terms, revealing nothing less than a transcendental thinking of origins. For Rousseau, the origin has the form of a scenethat is, of theater. On this basis, Rousseaus texts on the theater emerge as an incisive interrogation of Aristotles Poetics, to inaugurate what we could call the philosophical theater of the future.Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe was Professor of Philosophy at the Universite Marc Bloch, Strasbourg. His many books include Poetry as Experience Typography and, with Jean-Luc Nancy, The Literary Absolute. Jeff Fort is Associate Professor of French at the University of California, Davis, and the translator of more than a dozen books by Jean Genet, Jacques Derrida, and others.