“Literature and Philosophy: Contemporary Research Methods” Series

From September 15th to 20th, 2019, Paul Patton, Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, Professor of Philosophy of the University of New South Wales and Professor of Philosophy of Hongyi School of Wuhan University, gave lectures on “Literature and Philosophy: Contemporary Research Methods” series at the invitation of the SFS. Prof. Paul Patton’s research focus on contemporary philosophers of continental Europe such as Deleuze, Derrida and Foucault, and modern European philosophers such as Hobbes and Nietzsche. He is the representative of the dialogue between continental European political philosophy and British and American political philosophy.

Lecture 1: Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day and Nietzsche’s “Problem of the Actor”

On September 15, 2019, Prof. Paul Patton gave a lecture on “Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day and Nietzsche’s ‘Problem of the Actor’” in Room 315, the SFS. At 9:55 a.m., the lecture was opened with a passionate introduction by the host, Prof. Yin Jing. The Remains of the Day is one of the masterpieces of a Nobel laureate, Japanese-British author Kazuo Ishiguro. For a long time, the critics have been researching the novel from such perspectives as postmodern narrative, class consciousness and tragic emotions to explore the novel’s cultural value and aesthetic meaning. However, Prof. Paul took a different approach from Nietzsche’s discussions of actors and acting to analyze the huge price paid by the butler Stevens in the novel for his ideal of being a “great butler”, explore the interaction between human and social roles, and then respond to major issues such as individual initiative and responsibility in modern society.

First of all, Prof. Paul explained Nietzsche’s exposition about “role of the actor” to all teachers and students present. In The Gay Science (1882), Nietzsche noted that the actor would automatically enter the role’s cognitive vision when playing the role, and then engender a delusive “sense of identity” of the role’s rather than the actor’s life experiences and social status, which also applies to Jews, women and the social underclass. Therefore, Prof. Paul believes that in The Remains of the Day, Mr Stevens’ nostalgia and attachment to the British Empire is isomorphic with Nietzsche’s “the actor’s role identity”. Mr. Stevens has a sense of belonging and nostalgia for the British Empire represented by Darlington House, which in nature reflects his tendency to identify with maintaining the ideology of the British Empire in the process of playing the role of “butler”.

Prof. Paul further explained Mr. Stevens’ rejection of Miss Kenton’s love through Nietzsche’s theory of “the identity of the actor”. Prof. Paul pointed out that because Mr. Stevens holds fast to his position of “butler”, he is quite dissatisfied with Miss Kenton who tries to flirt with him during his rest, which means he will get rid of restriction of his role of “butler”.

In addition to professional roles and social roles, Prof. Paul used the theory of “role of the actor” to explain Mr. Stevens’ prices paid for his idealized role of butler, which is reflected in three aspects in the novel. First, Mr. Stevens’ response to his role of butler shows his yearn for English aristocracy’s personality and the dignity of the British Empire. Secondly, Mr. Stevens imitates his father’s aristocratic dignity, which resists his love for Miss Kenton to a certain extent. Thirdly, Mr. Stevens’ idealized pursuit of the role of butler makes him choose to look after Miss Kenton on his father’s deathbed, so as to maintain the dignity and warmth of a traditional British butler in the face of “distinguished guests.” In the lecture, Prof. Paul combined Nietzsche’s theory of “role of the actor” to reinterpret the classic The Remains of the Day from three aspects: professional roles, social roles and idealized roles. His brilliant and in-depth speech enabled all teachers and students here to think deeply of literature, philosophy and individual position in modern society. During the Question-and-Answer section, foreign teachers of Department of English, and Assistant to the Dean, Asso. Prof. Fan Yiting all discussed with Prof. Paul about Mr. Stevens’ identity and his reference to the decline of the British Empire, and all received satisfactory answers. The lecture came to an end with the summary of Prof. Yin Jing.

Lecture 2: Literature and Life: Gilles Deleuze

At 9:50 a.m., September 19, 2019, the second lecture of “Literature and Philosophy: Contemporary Research Methods” series------“Literature and Life: Gilles Deleuze” beganin Room 315, Foreign Language Building. The speaker, Prof. Paul Patton, is a Deleuze expert, and has translated and published many works about Deleuze. Present at the lecture were Dean of the SFS, Prof. Chen Hongwei, Prof. Sheng Anfeng of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, Tsinghua University, Prof. Zhang Lei of School of Foreign Studies, CUPL, foreign teachers of the Department of English, USTB, Prof. Yin Jing and Prof. Fan Yiting. All doctoral students and postgraduates of the SFS attended the lecture.

In the beginning, Prof. Patton briefly introduced Deleuze and his works. Prof. Patton said that Deleuze is a comprehensive philosopher whose works cover many fields as films, painting and music. Prof. Patton showed Deleuze’s emphasis on the combination of philosophy and literature with an example of Deleuze’s masterpiece Mille Plateaux. Later, Prof. Patton analyzed Fitzgerald’s dramatic experiences in his autobiographical work The Crack-Up and Deleuze’s interpretations to them. In the book, Fitzgerald describes three kinds of “crack-ups”. The first is “a violent, sudden impulse from or as if coming from outside”; the second a thinner, more pliable and tinny crack; and the third a “rupture” that can never be restored. Deleuze sums them up as three kinds of “lines”: the gram molecular line, the relatively soft molecular line, and the line of flight across various boundaries. Then Prof. Patton explained one of Deleuze’s core concepts—“Life” in conjunction with the novel Our Mutual Friend by the British writer Charles Dickens. According to the definition of Deleuze and Guattari, life is a kind of “non-organic, growing and intensive life”. In Our Mutual Friend, the “internal spark of life” is presented when the villain Riderhood almost drowns and struggles between life and death, which can be claimed as the “non-individual and non-organic life”. Prof. Patton also mentioned another core concept that was explained in Deleuze’s analysis of Moby Dick------“Becoming”. Moby Dick mainly tells the story of Captain Ahab who is obsessed with the special “becoming” power of whales, and looks insane and behaves crazy because he eventually becomes a whale and experiences different selves and identities in order to gain the feelings of whales.

Finally, Prof. Patton interpreted Deleuze and Guattari’s Literature and Life. He mentioned that the reason why Deleuze admires Proust, D.H. Lawrence, Kafka, Melville, Thomas Hardy and other writers so much is precisely that they always try to depict various possibilities of different, “non-individual and non-organic” lives in their works.

During the Question-and-Answer session, there was a question about what contribution Deleuze made to literary criticism and literary theory. Prof. Patton answered that Deleuze’s core concepts mentioned in his lecture, such as event, becoming, and three kinds of lines(namely rigid line, supple line and line of flight), all provide new concepts to theoretical research and a new perspective for understanding literary works.

In the lecture, Prof. Patton vividly explained to the students the core concepts of Deleuze’s thought with rich literary cases, so that the students had a more perceptual understanding of the obscure philosophical concepts. The lecture came to an end with a burst of applause.

Lecture 3: Philosophy and Literature/ Philosophy in Literature: Coetzee

On the morning of September 20, Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, Prof. Paul Patton delivered a new lecture on “Philosophy and Literature/ Philosophy in Literature” to the teachers and students of the SFS and other schools and universities after the two lectures on “Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day and Nietzsche’s Actor Problem” and “Literature and Life: Gilles Deleuze”, which inspiredstudents to develop more innovative and creative ideas. In the beginning, Prof. Patton introduced Coetzee’s writing career and illustrated that his works are to express his philosophical ideas with practical examples. In fact, Coetzee regards literature as the source and carrier of philosophical thinking. For example, Coetzee’s Disgrace embodies Deleuze’s becoming philosophy and its concept of “pure, non-individual and uncertain life”. Prof. Patton concluded that Disgrace’s protagonist accepts his pure non-individual and uncertain life like an animal by becoming a dog, and he is eventually free from death satirized as “disgrace”. Prof. Patton’s philosophical interpretation of Disgrace gave insights to all teachers and students here.

Then, Prof. Patton further explained the philosophical ideas in Coetzee’s literature with another work Diary of a Bad Year. Prof. Patton highlighted three points about the book. First, there are two paradoxes. It is regarded as both a fiction novel and a non-fiction novel, because the author’s true story coexists with the fictional author’s story. In other words, Diary of a Bad Year is not only a novel but also a “collection of opinions” of Coetzee; in the book, “strong opinions” and “weak opinions” can be transformed into each other. Secondly, the interpretation of “opinion” in Diary of a Bad Year reflects Nietzsche’s “final opinion” on “opinion” ------ a person either hides his own opinion or hides himself behind it. Thirdly, the question of “language” in Diary of a Bad Year alludes to Derrida and Heidegger’s philosophical views on language------all the languages we use are the languages of others. Prof. Patton made the teachers and students here in deep thought of “opinion and language” with his lucid explanation.

Finally, Pro. Patton further explained the philosophy in literature with The Childhood of Jesus which is the first book of Coetzee’s recently published trilogy. He emphasized that the question “Why are we here?” in the book touches on the most basic and important thinking of “existence” in philosophy. The “transcendental memory” of the “father” in it implies Plato’s ideal world and his thought that “our world is in a cycle of ideal world, and only the soul is always alive”. Prof. Patton said that Coetzee’s thinking about “existence” also reflects Plato’s thinking about “human existence” and his concern for the well-being of citizens.

Prof. Patton made profound philosophical interpretations of Coetzee’s works, which inspired the teachers and students attended to have philosophical speculation on literature and to re-examine the relationship between philosophy and literature. Many teachers and students further discussed with Prof. Patton and raised some questions. Prof. Patton answered these questions one by one, deepening our thinking on “Philosophy and Literature/Philosophy in Literature”. The brainstorm came to an end with a burst of applause.