Posthumous Publication Research Articles

Émilie Du Châtelet’s Newton

Abstract This paper discusses the first French translator of Isaac Newton’s Principia Mathematica, Émilie Du Châtelet (1706-1749). It shows how her reputation suffered because as a woman her intellectual capabilities and her attainment in mathematics were not taken seriously and she was overshadowed by Voltaire, although he was no match for her expertise in mathematics. However, her extensive correspondence shows that in her lifetime she had an active intellectual life and was well-connected with the leading savants of her day. The letters shed light on the development of her interest in Newton – and indeed on the reception of Newton in eighteenth-century France. The paper concludes with an account of her Newton translation and the circumstances of its posthumous publication in 1759.

Linguistic Personology and Linguistic Personality as Subjects of Vladimir V. Kolesov’s Scientific Reflection

Linguistic personology has remained a popular linguistic direction in Russia for more than thirty years. This discipline studies a native speaker or a linguistic personality with their own worldview, mentality, language fluency, linguistic creativity, and ability to understand someone else’s speech. The famous Russian philologist Vladimir V. Kolesov (1934–2019) was a prominent figure in Russian linguistics. However, in his last publication, he criticized both the term linguistic personality and the entire linguistic personology. Although specialists overlooked this criticism, it is important for linguistic personology. This article reveals the philosophical and methodological foundations of V. V. Kolesov’s criticism, as well as interprets the arguments he published in 2009-2021. First, the authors traced the development of anti-personological trends in V. V. Kolesov’s lifetime publications. Second, they identified the prerequisites for the criticism of the theory of linguistic personality. Third, they analyzed the posthumous publication of The Conceptual Field of Russian Consciousness as a synthesis that reinterpreted the previous criticism. The methods of contextual analysis, reconstruction, philological hermeneutics, and comparison made it possible to obtain two theoretical models that explain V. V. Kolesov’s conclusions about linguistic personology. The authors believe that the last thirty years of V. V. Kolesov’s scientific work was a gradual slide towards recognizing linguistic personality as an important tool in describing mentality.

Pierre Bourdieu vis-à-vis Martin Heidegger: the first ‘conservative revolution’

As a philosophy student in 1950s Paris, Pierre Bourdieu experienced a ‘certain fascination’ with the German phenomenologists, Husserl and Heidegger. He later went on in 1975 to write a lengthy article on The Political Ontology of Martin Heidegger, translated into English in 1991. Recently, notable Bourdieusian theorists have emphasised this Heideggerian contribution to Bourdieu’s thought, stressing its significance alongside the classical sociological theorists (Marx, Weber and Durkheim). They thus directly assert or imply its continued importance for the genesis of new social theory. The present article argues against this position and it does so in part by using Bourdieu’s own reflections on Heidegger. Like Theodor Adorno, this analysis rooted Heidegger’s thought in his social position as a lower-class outsider to the patrician German university system. Going beyond Adorno, however, Bourdieu stressed the crises of interwar Germany including the crisis within the country’s academia. Drawing attention to the interwar ‘conservative revolution’ of Carl Schmitt, Oswald Spengler, Erich Jünger, and Fritz Lang, amongst others, Bourdieu delineated Heidegger’s ‘alchemical transformation’ of this conservative current into ‘philosophical form’ to create a symbolic revolution. The article concludes by discussing later scholarship as well as the posthumous publication of Heidegger’s journal, The Black Notebooks. These newly-published sources reveal Heidegger’s coded but virulent antisemitism. In light of these, it is argued that Heideggerian ontology can be used neither for philosophy nor for social theory.

Autobiographical tendencies in Boris Ryzhy’s works. The Rotterdam Diary [Rotterdamskiy dnevnik

The article analyzes the autobiographical features of The Rotterdam Diary [Rotterdamskiy dnevnik], the only prose work by the late poet B. Ryzhy, a native of Yekaterinburg. The Diary was written soon after his trip to the Poetry International Festival in the Netherlands in 2000 and can be viewed as the young poet’s confessions that shed light on the logic of his life and work. The book remained unfinished at the time of Ryzhy’s death — his widow and father came up with the title and initiated a posthumous publication in the Znamya journal. The book’s unique quality lies in its tentative genre attribution as well as significant fragmentation of the narrative. Using narratological methods, the article demonstrates the narrator’s use of a nonlinear narrative to put together his own image — that of a loner, a ‘loser,’ and, at the same time, ‘an ordinary Russian poet.’ Interestingly, this image is partially reflected in the poet’s contemporaries also portrayed in the Diary and helps to form an opinion about the lyrical hero from the viewpoint of his typological traits.

La Luce (1698) by Giovanni Michele Milani – A Final Attempt at Reconciling Atomism and Religion in Seventeenth-Century Rome?

Abstract In the poem La Luce, composed in 1685 and dedicated to Christina of Sweden, Giovanni Michele Milani propounds a mechanical and vitalist (meta-)physics of light that complies with Christian tenets by adopting a peculiar version of Democritean atomism. His lecture for the Roman Simposiaci Academy indicates the extent of Milani’s dissatisfaction with Aristotelian philosophy. While he attended the Physico-mathematical Academy and the heterodox Congresso medico romano, he nevertheless, signed La Luce – published posthumously in 1698 with a preface by Francesco Redi – as “Accademico Umorista.” When we examine La Luce together with some excerpts of the unpublished work of Milani’s friend and fellow member of this literary institution – the Dialoghi eruditi by Giuseppe Giusto Guaccimanni – we are presented with an interesting cultural scenario. It would seem that some Umoristi might have joined the Queen in the effort to devise a Christian experimental philosophy which was open to alchemy. The posthumous publication of the poem may well have been triggered by the rivalry between the Umoristi and the Academy of the Arcadia.

Karl Marx’s critique of the state as an alienation of society in his 1843 Critique of Hegel’s Doctrine of State

ABSTRACT Alienation became a central but controversial concept in the reception and interpretation of Karl Marx’s thought after the posthumous publication of the Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts in 1932. Numerous interlocutors debated the content and configuration of Marx’s concept of alienation and its relationship to G.W.F. Hegel and Ludwig Feuerbach, as well as his own subsequent critique of political economy. But these debates inadvertently ignored Marx’s prior Critique of Hegel’s Doctrine of State. This article aims to remedy this omission. Through close textual analysis and theoretical recontextualization I reconstruct and reinterpret Marx’s elaborate critique of the modern sovereign state as an alienation of civil society rooted in the dynamics of the modern system of private property, which also sheds new light on Marx’s concept of alienation, its relationship to prior political philosophy, (post-)Hegelian philosophy and his subsequent critique of political economy.

Middle English Manuscripts and Their Legacies: A Volume in Honour of Ian Doyle

Middle English Manuscripts and Their Legacies: A Volume in Honour of Ian Doyle

Michael Fried’s theatricality and the practice of painting

ABSTRACT This article is the posthumous publication of a lecture given by the artist and academic Beth Harland (1964–2019). It was originally presented at a conference on Theatricality, at Lancaster University in 2017. This paper begins by working through the arguments of Michael Fried, to situate the key terms of theatricality and absorption, before then turning to contemporary painting practice (with notable reference to the work of Tomma Abts) to advance her reading of ‘an absorptive mode of address within contemporary painting’. This article also situates Harland's own art practice.

Sverdlovsk / Ekaterinburg in the Poetry of Boris Ryzhy from 1992–1993

Based on the material of Boris Ryzhy’s earliest poems, this article examines the contexts of his perception and comprehension of Sverdlovsk (or “my city”), which was an important element of the biographically verified “direct” lyrical statement of the poet. The article aims to determine the meaning and role of the images of Sverdlovsk / Ekaterinburg in the poems of Boris Ryzhy from 1992–1993 taking into account the process of his self-determination as a poet. The sources of Ryzhy’s texts used are lifetime and posthumous publications of poems in Ekaterinburg periodicals and separate collections, as well as materials by A. V. Kuzin and O. Yu. Ermolaeva. As a result, the author of the article shows that B. Ryzhy’s “city” in this period is still far from acquiring a holistic individual appearance and independent meaning, since it simultaneously depends on several processes that are inevitable for a novice author — mastering general literary topoi and eliminating poetic influences (V. Mayakovsky, I. Brodsky, and V. Kalpidi), developing one’s own style and outlook. Special attention is paid to the comparison of V. Kalpidi’s and B. Ryzhy’s poetry in the aspects of 1) the relationship of their lyrical hero with the “city” and 2) the use of complex urban imagery oversaturated with stylistic devices. It is concluded that Ryzhy’s overcoming the episodic influence of Kalpidi’s complicated manner to a certain extent confirmed Ryzhy in his own worldview positions. It is assumed that the results of this work will become a preparatory stage for further analysis of the dynamics of the formation of the “Sverdlovsk of Boris Ryzhy” — an established literary phenomenon that affects the image of modern Ekaterinburg.

Памяти русского ученого (рецензия на книгу В.Н. Расторгуева «Цивилизационный путь России»)

The review is devoted to the posthumous publication of the collection of scientific works written by Valery Rastorguev (1949–2021), Doctor of Philosophical Sciences, Professor of the Department of Philosophy of Politics and Law of Lomonosov Moscow State Uni­versity, in the last years of his life. This publication presents in full the multifaceted sci­entific work of the scientist. His reflections were devoted to the civilizational develop­ment of Russia and the Slavic world, issues of environmental and social policy; his con­cepts of “smart politics” and culture of forecasting. The focus is on the concept of Russia as a state-civilization, great efforts to develop and promote which were made by Valery Rastorguev.

Foucault Before the Collège de France

This introduction to the special issue ‘Foucault Before the Collège de France’ surveys Foucault’s work in the first part of his career. While there is a familiar chronology to the books he published in the 1960s – from History of Madness to The Archaeology of Knowledge – the story can be developed in relation to his articles, his translations, his early publications and manuscripts, and his teaching. Looking at the programme of posthumous publication of many of his courses and unfinished manuscripts, this introduction discusses key themes, and introduces the papers of the special issue which analyse these texts in detail. It concludes with some general thoughts about what these hitherto neglected or hidden sources tell us about the work of Foucault. Although it adds some cautions about their use, we believe the texts and lectures analysed in this issue and others from the period before the Collège de France add valuable insights into our understanding of Foucault’s intellectual development, his interests and plans, and his enduring influence on a variety of fields in the humanities and social sciences.

Irish Literature in Transition, 1700-1780, ed. Moyra Haslett

<i>Irish Literature in Transition, 1700-1780</i>, ed. Moyra Haslett

Two American Poets—Wallace Stevens &amp; William Carlos Williams: From the Collection of Alan M. Klein. The Grolier Club, New York, 2019.

<i>Two American Poets—Wallace Stevens &amp; William Carlos Williams: From the Collection of Alan M. Klein.</i> The Grolier Club, New York, 2019.

Avant la lettre: Philip Perry, Reconversionist Aesthetics, and the Medieval Literary

<i>Avant la lettre</i>: Philip Perry, Reconversionist Aesthetics, and the Medieval Literary

Brownness Is Here, Queerness Is Not Yet (T)Here

Brownness Is Here, Queerness Is Not Yet (T)Here

‘We have sick souls when God’s physic works not’: Samuel Rutherford’s pastoral letters as a form of literary cure

ABSTRACT Samuel Rutherford’s letters draw on biblical imagery and idiomatic metaphors, including contemporary discourses of illness and medicine, to diagnose and promote the spiritual and physical health of individual believers and the Scottish Kirk. This essay examines how Rutherford used language to care for his correspondents enacting a form of literary cure through the letter as a communication technology. Interrogating Rutherford’s use of language theologically, politically, and practically to negotiate God’s providential care for his people, the traumatic splintering of the church and state in England and Scotland, and caregiving within covenanting communities, reveals how his epistolary practice expands knowledge of the church’s historical provision of care, and the intersection of religious and medical caregiving in early modern Scotland. Rutherford’s lexical and metaphorical creativity, rendering complex theological concepts emotionally intelligible and rhetorically effective, ensured his letters provided comfort to covenanted godly communities and underwrote their posthumous publication as a devotional and literary classic.

Die ‘bekentenisse van die vlees’ in die sentrale Middeleeue: ’n Verruiming van Foucault se lesing in Histoire de la sexualité 1 (La volonté de savoir)

The ‘confessions of the flesh’ in the central Middle Ages: An expansion of Foucault’s reading in Histoire de la sexualité 1 (La volonté de savoir). This article expands Michel Foucault’s (1926–1984) reading of the ‘confessions of the flesh’ in handbooks of penance written during the central Middle Ages in the first volume La volonté de savoir of his (current) four-volume series Histoire de la sexualité. After the posthumous publication of the fourth volume Les aveux de la chair (2018), in which Foucault takes his analysis of the historical foundations of confessional practices in the late 12th century to the first half of the 14th century even further back, to the ‘confessions of the flesh’ in the patristics of the 3rd to the 5th centuries, it has become sensible to illuminate Foucault’s condensed reading of confessional scripts in La volonté de savoir itself. This exposition pertinently applies to Foucault’s correct conclusion that sex was prioritised above all other ‘sins’, ‘vices’, and ‘transgressions’ in central Medieval confessional scripts; therefore, as he famously noted, becoming a ‘seismograph of subjectivity in Christian cultures’. Against this backdrop, it is considered how thinkers from the central Middle Ages themselves reflected on the sacramentalisation of confession after the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215 – since Foucault himself did not substantially elaborate on it. The reflections of three philosophers from the central Middle Ages on the relation between sex, confession and absolution are subsequently presented as an expansion of Foucault’s reading in La volonté de savoir. Firstly, Alan of Lille’s (d.1203) interpretation of the Summae confessorum in his Liber poenitentialis is revisited, concluding that Lille’s perspective was ‘hermeneutical’, in terms of his insistence that the confessor should adjust his interrogations according to seven Aristotelian topoi or detailed questions, designate the context in which the transgression occurred very thoroughly and ‘actively participate’ in the confessional act, rather than simply recording it. Lille’s ‘hermeneutical’ approach to confession is also reflected in Robert Grosseteste’s (ca.1168–1253) De modo confitendi et paenitentias iniungendi, in which a moderate phronetic approach allows for the full discretion of the confessor, rather than following the rigid prescriptions of the Summae confessorum only. Secondly, William of Auvergne’s (ca.1180–1249) contribution to the interpretation of the Summae confessorum in his Poenitentia is indicated in his utilitarian ethics, in which the interests of the ethical ‘other’ is related to the confessing ‘self’: even though matrimony is for Auvergne the only realm where the other’s interests are not necessarily compromised by sexual contact, several considerations regarding ‘improper sex’, precisely within matrimony, apply according to the relevant penitential guidelines. Thirdly, Paul of Hungary’s (ca.1180–1241) De confessione is considered in terms of his reflections on ‘paying sexual debt’, and on the relation between regulated sexual release and the legitimacy of sexual gratification, again within the context of matrimony.Contribution: This article contributes to Foucault-scholarship by elucidating and expanding Foucault’s condensed reading of 13th-century confessional scripts in La volonté de savoir, with reference to the relevant texts of Alan of Lille (d.1203), William of Auvergne (ca.1180–1249) and Paul of Hungary (ca.1180–1241).

Prowokatorka: Fascynujące życie Marii Dąbrowskiej [The provoker: The fascinating life of Maria Dąbrowska

<i>Prowokatorka: Fascynujące życie Marii Dąbrowskiej</i> [The provoker: The fascinating life of Maria Dąbrowska

The Origins of Classicalization Publication and Perception of Academic Heritage of S.B. Veselovskiy

The research of how scientific works acquire the status of “classics” is an essential aspect of studying the actualization of ideas and approaches, their circulation in the academic field, as well as the current state of a scientific direction or discipline. Based on historiographical sources and documentation, this article analyzes the role of publication and perception of academic heritage of the famous historian, academician Stepan Borisovich Veselovskiy (1876–1952) in classification. In this research, the creation and activity of the Commission for the publication of Veselovskiy's papers are considered one of the key stages in the process of classicalization. The reasons for creating the Commission and its history, personal membership, and publishing plans based on documentation materials from the Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) are studied. Also, the influence of Veselovskiy's literary heritage on the historiography of the late Soviet era is analyzed. The author considers the continuity of Veselovskiy's scientific views and research approaches on pre-Petrine Russia's history, the criticism of papers published both during his lifetime and posthumously. Special attention is paid to the influence of reviews on the classification of literary heritage. Further research prospects are highlighted, and it is assumed that the posthumous publication of Veselovskiy's academic works and their involvement in historiography created the basis for the classification of Veselovskiy's literary heritage in the late Soviet period.

'The object of sense and experiment': the ontology of sensation in William Hunter's investigation of the human gravid uterus.

William Hunter's anatomical inquiry employed all of his senses, but how did his personal experiences with the cadaver become generalized scientific knowledge teachable to students and understandable by fellow practitioners? Moving beyond a historiographical focus on Hunter's images and extending Lorraine Daston's (2008) concept of an 'ontology of scientific observation' to include non-visual senses, I argue that Hunter's work aimed to create a stabilized object of the cadaver that he and his students could perceive in common. Crucial to this stabilization was the sense of touch and its interaction with other senses, creating intersensory knowledge of the cadaver. Through a close reading of his neglected posthumous publication An Anatomical Description of the Human Gravid Uterus (1794), I demonstrate that Hunter wrote extensively about touch and other sensory experiences, using comparative metaphors and other linguistic strategies to engender clear ideas of the cadaver in the mind of the reader. That these ideas could be consistent between practitioners was guaranteed by God, but required practitioners to appropriately reflect on their sensory experiences with cadavers. Hunter's experimental practice encompassed both simple and complex methods, all aimed at increasing the range of sensorial experiences he had with the gravid uterus. His preservations of these experiences in text, image and preparation could then be used to support further anatomical investigations.