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Introduction: Contemporary Literature and the State

Introduction: Contemporary Literature and the State M AT T H E W H A R T A N D J I M H A N S E N A writer's life is a highly vulnerable, almost naked activity. We don't have to weep about that. The writer makes his choice and is stuck with it. But it is true to say that you are open to all the winds, some of them icy indeed. You are out on your own, out on a limb. You find no shelter, no protection-- unless you lie--in which case of course you have constructed your own protection and, it could be argued, become a politician. Harold Pinter, "Art, Truth, and Politics" It is only through being a member of the state that the individual himself has objectivity, truth, and ethical life. G. W. F. Hegel, Elements of a Philosophy of Right he passages quoted above represent the antinomy that this special issue of Contemporary Literature seeks to disrupt. If for Hegel the state is the necessary condition of political subjectivity--"It is the way of God with the world that the state exists," he is reported to have said--then for Harold Pinter the state too often serves as a http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Contemporary Literature University of Wisconsin Press

Introduction: Contemporary Literature and the State

Contemporary Literature , Volume 49 (4) – Apr 30, 2009

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Publisher
University of Wisconsin Press
Copyright
Copyright © University of Wisconsin Press
ISSN
1548-9949
Publisher site
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Abstract

M AT T H E W H A R T A N D J I M H A N S E N A writer's life is a highly vulnerable, almost naked activity. We don't have to weep about that. The writer makes his choice and is stuck with it. But it is true to say that you are open to all the winds, some of them icy indeed. You are out on your own, out on a limb. You find no shelter, no protection-- unless you lie--in which case of course you have constructed your own protection and, it could be argued, become a politician. Harold Pinter, "Art, Truth, and Politics" It is only through being a member of the state that the individual himself has objectivity, truth, and ethical life. G. W. F. Hegel, Elements of a Philosophy of Right he passages quoted above represent the antinomy that this special issue of Contemporary Literature seeks to disrupt. If for Hegel the state is the necessary condition of political subjectivity--"It is the way of God with the world that the state exists," he is reported to have said--then for Harold Pinter the state too often serves as a

Journal

Contemporary LiteratureUniversity of Wisconsin Press

Published: Apr 30, 2009

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