This project establishes how the struggles of modernist artists, such as James Joyce, Samuel Beckett, Franz Kafka, and Witold Gombrowicz create culture as an artistic experience, which happens in the political space in-between the artist and the audience. I argue that "politics" and "action" are necessary for this creation of culture to happen. Following Hannah Arendt's philosophy, "politics" depends on "action" and "action" is creation. At the same time, creation is evolution, in the Bergsonian sense. Following not only Arendt's philosophy but also Henri Bergson's philosophy of becoming, this dissertation explores how politics creates a culture through "action." Even though Bergson does not name action as one of his main concepts, such as durée, "action" becomes part of his philosophy regarding the struggle of the creative mind. For Arendt, "action" detaches life from a life of habit, or a life that rejects creation. Creation by these two philosophers is understood as freedom to create and to perform, and as openness to other possibilities within language, including its deformation and evolution all of them able to create a political scenario that, according to Arendt, disseminate differences. Thus, the existence of culture is only possible through politics. / A Dissertation submitted to the Program in Interdisciplinary Humanities in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2014. / March 28, 2014. / Franz Kafka, Henri Bergson, James Joyce, Modernism, Politics, Samuel Beckett / Includes bibliographical references. / S. E. Gontarski, Professor Directing Dissertation; Aimee Boutin, University Representative; Ralph Berry, Committee Member; William Cloonan, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_185378 |
| Contributors | Delgado-Gonzalez, Antonio (authoraut), Gontarski, S. E. (professor directing dissertation), Boutin, Aimee (university representative), Berry, Ralph (committee member), Cloonan, William (committee member), Program in Interdisciplinary Humanities (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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