Timely Revolutions: On the Timelessness of the Unconscious
Julia Kristeva’s work on the concept of revolt is marked by a temporal analysis that takes revolt to be a movement of return into the past that makes possible change, rebirth, and an open future. Such temporal revolt is, according to Kristeva, intimate, in that it touches on unconscious psychic stru...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University Library System, University of Pittsburgh
2014-12-01
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| Series: | Journal of French and Francophone Philosophy |
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| Online Access: | http://jffp.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/jffp/article/view/653 |
| _version_ | 1811185571117137920 |
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| author | Fanny Söderbäck |
| author_facet | Fanny Söderbäck |
| author_sort | Fanny Söderbäck |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Julia Kristeva’s work on the concept of revolt is marked by a temporal analysis that takes revolt to be a movement of return into the past that makes possible change, rebirth, and an open future. Such temporal revolt is, according to Kristeva, intimate, in that it touches on unconscious psychic structures and operates on the level of thought and creativity. But Kristeva simultaneously inherits Freud’s notion that the unconscious is timeless. How, I ask, can revolt be defined as a temporal movement of return while at the same time being rooted in timelessness? I examine both Freud’s and Kristeva’s discussions of the timelessness of the unconscious and suggest that it needs to be understood not as non-temporal or outside of time, but rather as a temporal structure that challenges traditional philosophical conceptions of time. As such, the timelessness of the unconscious is far from being yet another instantiation of metaphysical presence. Rather, I see it as offering a challenge to both metaphysical presence and linear time, and indeed as making possible the retrospective movement of return that revolt for Kristeva must be. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T13:31:30Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d29ab22a7dc74a469becbe0fde235af8 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2155-1162 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T13:31:30Z |
| publishDate | 2014-12-01 |
| publisher | University Library System, University of Pittsburgh |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of French and Francophone Philosophy |
| spelling | doaj.art-d29ab22a7dc74a469becbe0fde235af82022-12-22T04:21:48ZengUniversity Library System, University of PittsburghJournal of French and Francophone Philosophy2155-11622014-12-01222465510.5195/jffp.2014.653563Timely Revolutions: On the Timelessness of the UnconsciousFanny Söderbäck0Siena CollegeJulia Kristeva’s work on the concept of revolt is marked by a temporal analysis that takes revolt to be a movement of return into the past that makes possible change, rebirth, and an open future. Such temporal revolt is, according to Kristeva, intimate, in that it touches on unconscious psychic structures and operates on the level of thought and creativity. But Kristeva simultaneously inherits Freud’s notion that the unconscious is timeless. How, I ask, can revolt be defined as a temporal movement of return while at the same time being rooted in timelessness? I examine both Freud’s and Kristeva’s discussions of the timelessness of the unconscious and suggest that it needs to be understood not as non-temporal or outside of time, but rather as a temporal structure that challenges traditional philosophical conceptions of time. As such, the timelessness of the unconscious is far from being yet another instantiation of metaphysical presence. Rather, I see it as offering a challenge to both metaphysical presence and linear time, and indeed as making possible the retrospective movement of return that revolt for Kristeva must be.http://jffp.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/jffp/article/view/653kristevafreud, revolt, time, timelessness, repetition, unconscious |
| spellingShingle | Fanny Söderbäck Timely Revolutions: On the Timelessness of the Unconscious Journal of French and Francophone Philosophy kristeva freud, revolt, time, timelessness, repetition, unconscious |
| title | Timely Revolutions: On the Timelessness of the Unconscious |
| title_full | Timely Revolutions: On the Timelessness of the Unconscious |
| title_fullStr | Timely Revolutions: On the Timelessness of the Unconscious |
| title_full_unstemmed | Timely Revolutions: On the Timelessness of the Unconscious |
| title_short | Timely Revolutions: On the Timelessness of the Unconscious |
| title_sort | timely revolutions on the timelessness of the unconscious |
| topic | kristeva freud, revolt, time, timelessness, repetition, unconscious |
| url | http://jffp.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/jffp/article/view/653 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT fannysoderback timelyrevolutionsonthetimelessnessoftheunconscious |