Sillon, proximité, écart : le voisinage de la terre dans O Pioneers! de Willa Cather

Sillon, proximité, écart : le voisinage de la terre dans O Pioneers! de Willa Cather

In The Senses of Walden, Stanley Cavell provocatively states that “America [has] never expressed itself philosophically,” save “in the metaphysical riot of its greatest literature”. A similar insight has prompted Richard Rorty to proclaim that philosophy can no longer sustain its old territorial cl...

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Main Author: Duplay, Mathieu
Format: Article ou chapitre numérique
Language:Français
Published: 2004
Subjects:
Conversation
és
Philosophie
Territoire
W. Cather
Philosophy
Territory
the Humanities
Online Access:Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM
Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM
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spelling cairn-RFEA_101_0039RFEARevue française d’études américaines https://shs.cairn.info/revue-francaise-d-etudes-americaines-2004-3-page-39?lang=fr https://doi.org/10.3917/rfea.101.0039 Sillon, proximité, écart : le voisinage de la terre dans O Pioneers! de Willa Cather Duplay, Mathieu2004 ConversationésPhilosophieTerritoireW. CatherConversationPhilosophyTerritorythe HumanitiesW. Catherfre Revue française d’études américaines | 101 | 3 | 2004-09-01 | p. 39-48 | 0397-7870 RFEA_10128 In The Senses of Walden, Stanley Cavell provocatively states that “America [has] never expressed itself philosophically,” save “in the metaphysical riot of its greatest literature”. A similar insight has prompted Richard Rorty to proclaim that philosophy can no longer sustain its old territorial claims, and that its sole remaining purpose is to supervise the “conversation” between non-philosophical discourses and forms of knowledge. Cavell counters this argument by pointing out that philosophy actually comes into its own when it loses its traditional privileges : if the mission of philosophical conversation is to question the legitimacy of territorial appropriation in the name of a common quest for justice, as it has been since Plato’s Republic, then American literature may be better equipped to carry it out than academic philosophy, with its recognized “field” and carefully guarded boundaries. This article seeks to test Cavell’s conclusions by examining Willa Cather’s 1913 novel O Pioneers !, which deals with what he calls “speculation in territory” while deliberately eschewing the conventional forms of philosophical rhetoric. It turns out that Cather’s narrative indeed stages a loving conversation between the main characters and the surrounding world: the correct combination of proximity and distance allows the protagonist and the land to gaze at each other; this gives rise to an intermingling of voices which in turn guarantees the possibility of genuine knowledge. Thus, while the novel is ostensibly about farming, it can also be read as a constructive critique of academic institutions, as it draws the reader’s attention to the broader context which alone permits teaching and research to carry out their true purpose.Cairn free access
language Français
format Article ou chapitre numérique
building 0/Bibliothèque numérique/
1/Bibliothèque numérique/Cairn/
topic Conversation
és
Philosophie
Territoire
W. Cather
Conversation
Philosophy
Territory
the Humanities
W. Cather
spellingShingle Conversation
és
Philosophie
Territoire
W. Cather
Conversation
Philosophy
Territory
the Humanities
W. Cather
Duplay, Mathieu
Sillon, proximité, écart : le voisinage de la terre dans O Pioneers! de Willa Cather
topic_facet Conversation
és
Philosophie
Territoire
W. Cather
Conversation
Philosophy
Territory
the Humanities
W. Cather
description In The Senses of Walden, Stanley Cavell provocatively states that “America [has] never expressed itself philosophically,” save “in the metaphysical riot of its greatest literature”. A similar insight has prompted Richard Rorty to proclaim that philosophy can no longer sustain its old territorial claims, and that its sole remaining purpose is to supervise the “conversation” between non-philosophical discourses and forms of knowledge. Cavell counters this argument by pointing out that philosophy actually comes into its own when it loses its traditional privileges : if the mission of philosophical conversation is to question the legitimacy of territorial appropriation in the name of a common quest for justice, as it has been since Plato’s Republic, then American literature may be better equipped to carry it out than academic philosophy, with its recognized “field” and carefully guarded boundaries. This article seeks to test Cavell’s conclusions by examining Willa Cather’s 1913 novel O Pioneers !, which deals with what he calls “speculation in territory” while deliberately eschewing the conventional forms of philosophical rhetoric. It turns out that Cather’s narrative indeed stages a loving conversation between the main characters and the surrounding world: the correct combination of proximity and distance allows the protagonist and the land to gaze at each other; this gives rise to an intermingling of voices which in turn guarantees the possibility of genuine knowledge. Thus, while the novel is ostensibly about farming, it can also be read as a constructive critique of academic institutions, as it draws the reader’s attention to the broader context which alone permits teaching and research to carry out their true purpose.
author Duplay, Mathieu
author_facet Duplay, Mathieu
author_sort Duplay, Mathieu
title Sillon, proximité, écart : le voisinage de la terre dans O Pioneers! de Willa Cather
title_short Sillon, proximité, écart : le voisinage de la terre dans O Pioneers! de Willa Cather
title_full Sillon, proximité, écart : le voisinage de la terre dans O Pioneers! de Willa Cather
title_fullStr Sillon, proximité, écart : le voisinage de la terre dans O Pioneers! de Willa Cather
title_full_unstemmed Sillon, proximité, écart : le voisinage de la terre dans O Pioneers! de Willa Cather
title_sort sillon, proximité, écart : le voisinage de la terre dans o pioneers! de willa cather
publishDate 2004
container_title
container_issue
url https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://shs.cairn.info/revue-francaise-d-etudes-americaines-2004-3-page-39?lang=fr
https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://doi.org/10.3917/rfea.101.0039
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