The Poetics of Singularity: The Counter-culturalist Turn in Heidegger, Derrida, Blanchot and the Later Gadamer

Reassesses an explosive issue in modern poetics In this study Timothy Clark focuses on the ways in which Martin Heidegger, Maurice Blanchot, Hans-Georg Gadamer and Jacques Derrida, among others, distinguish the poetic from literature more generally. The concept of ‘singularity’ - that which cannot be said or approached in terms other than its own - is what differentiates the two. The Poetics of Singularity reassesses an undervalued but explosive issue in modern poetics and affirms it against the dominant trends in contemporary criticism. It makes an important intervention in the understanding of twentieth-century poetics and engages this school of thought against the dominant paradigm of contemporary critical practice and the strategy of situating a text in terms of its cultural politics. The new Frontiers of Theory series brings together internationally respected figures to comment on and re-describe the state of theory in the twenty-first century, pushing back the boundaries with innovative new thinking. Volumes in the series constitute new and original interventions in the field of theory and criticism Combines quality monographs with a commitment to critical thinking Each book will be written by a senior academic with a high profile.