Machinic Deconstruction : literature/ politics/ technics

Taking its cue from Jacques Derrida’s concept of différance, Machinic Deconstruction: Literature / Politics / Technics addresses the question whether it is possible to conceive of a work of technics that is operative at the same quasi-ontological level as différance itself. To do so, this study develops a concept of technics that is inscribed with multiplicity and heterogeneity from the very outset, while at the same time defying rigid order and origin. This leads to a deconstruction of the difference between natural and technical, and to a new conceptualization of the machine. In the wake of technics, machines emerge in an attempt to impose order, calculation and origin. The author distinguishes between three different machines: a literary machine, a metaphysical machine, and a political machine. These three machines constantly interrelate, but while the metaphysical machine plays a decisive role in structuring the interrelation between these three machines, the literary machine plays a decisive role in deconstructing the interrelations.LEI Universiteit LeidenOnderzoeksinstituut PallasModern and Contemporary Studie

Een Nederlandse calvinist in Amerika: Postseculiere kritiek in The Blood of the Lamb (1961) van Peter de Vries

Modern and Contemporary Studie

Searching for new weapons?: Dutch studies under late modern conditions

In this article we argue for a study of Dutch literature that adjusts the ‘what’ (research domain) and ‘how’ (research method) to the time in which we currently find ourselves. We refer to the conditions of our era as late modern conditions (Giddens), which means that they can be traced back to earlier, modern conditions; we can therefore examine the historical and cultural background and causes. The fact that these are conditions means that if we take these conditions seriously they are changing the nature and design of our field. We argue that the study of Dutch literature can help us to trace the concrete affective, emotional and imaginary patterns and routines that both characterize and uphold late modernity. Our argument will take shape through a reading of two contemporary novels: Maxim Februari’s Klont (2017) and Lieke Marsman’s Het tegenovergestelde van een mens (2017). Modern and Contemporary Studie