Misreading the River: Heraclitean Hope in Postmodern Texts

Nancy Roane, Oberlin College

Location

Science Center, A154

Document Type

Presentation

Start Date

4-24-2015 2:45 PM

End Date

4-24-2015 3:45 PM

Abstract

Julio Cortázar’s Rayuela stages a grand misreading of ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus and his doctrine of constant flux. Protagonist Horacio Oliveira justifies his bad behavior by pointing to the inadequacy of language and the relativity of everything. What Horacio fails to see points to a larger theoretical trap that postmodern inquiries can fall in—e.g., Samuel Beckett’s Fin de Partie, which features a character who concludes that everything is meaningless. Studying the misreadings of Heraclitus can offer productive avenues for deconstructive projects that may be halted in their tracks by their own deconstruction.

Notes

Session 2, Panel 8 - Interpretation / Composition / Reception: Meditations on Translation
Moderator: Sebastiaan Faber, Professor of Hispanic Studies

Full text thesis available here.

Major

Comparative Literature

Advisor(s)

Claire Solomon, Hispanic Studies

Project Mentor(s)

Claire Solomon, Hispanic Studies

April 2015

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Apr 24th, 2:45 PM Apr 24th, 3:45 PM

Misreading the River: Heraclitean Hope in Postmodern Texts

Science Center, A154

Julio Cortázar’s Rayuela stages a grand misreading of ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus and his doctrine of constant flux. Protagonist Horacio Oliveira justifies his bad behavior by pointing to the inadequacy of language and the relativity of everything. What Horacio fails to see points to a larger theoretical trap that postmodern inquiries can fall in—e.g., Samuel Beckett’s Fin de Partie, which features a character who concludes that everything is meaningless. Studying the misreadings of Heraclitus can offer productive avenues for deconstructive projects that may be halted in their tracks by their own deconstruction.