Response to the Work of Rodolphe Gasché

Abstract

the philosophical reach and acuity, and the literary sensitivity that we find in the work of Rodolphe Gasche. Gasche performs surgical gestures in his literary readings, deep interventions that open the literary field beyond its usual surfaces as established by literary history, thematic reading, or formal analysis. I want to emphasize the intensity indeed the seriousnessof Rodolphe Gasche's engagement with literature, one he presents as a counterpoint to his philosophical work. Gasche stands among the great literary critics who refuse to abandon the most fundamental questionshow does a literary work function, indeed what makes a literary work a literary work, what kind of work does it do, how does it do iteven as he engages with the fine art of reading specific literary texts and takes evident pleasure in their magic. Criticism today, it seems to me, is moving more and more away from this sort of ambitious inquiry; it is bracing to see such questions posed with intellectual rigor and urgency.