Intuition of the Instant (Studies in Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy)

Description

Appearing in English for the first time, Intuition of the Instant —Bachelard’s first metaphysical meditation on time and its moral implications—was written in 1932 in the wake of Husserl’s lectures on streaming time-consciousness, Heidegger’s Being and Time, and Henri Bergson’s philosophy of the élan vital. A culmination of Bachelard’s earlier studies in scientific epistemology, this work builds the epistemic framework that would lead theorists of all stripes to advance knowledge by breaking with accepted modes of thought. Intuition of the Instant sows the seeds of Bachelard’s future poetics, most notably in the essay “Poetic Instant and Metaphysical Instant” (1939)—included in this volume, along with an excerpt from Jean Lescure’s lecture “Introduction to Bachelard’s Poetics” (1966). Eileen Rizo-Patron’s translation offers a key to Bachelard’s subsequent works on science, time, and imagination, which remain epistemological touchstones. Review: The "M" Word...Metaphysics - I wrestled with this Angel paragraph by paragraph...assertion by assertion. I continue to wrestle with this Angel. It is brilliant and confounding and brilliant by turns. But even more than astonishing to me was Appendix A..."Poetic Instant and Metaphysical Instant"...included as a short but related supplement at the end of the main text. It begins: "Poetry is instant metaphysics." You had me right there. All too often the truly serious thought around the world of contemporary arts is placed in danger by the overpowering presence of the subject of the Artist. Here you have the subject of the Arts used in relationship to the M word...Metaphysics. In the Introduction to "The Poetics of Space" he uses and even more frightenting word...Ontology. He is working with and in and beyond these traditions of thought that extend back to Plato and Aristotle with countless twists and turn from then to now. And yet the world of the Arts insists on ignoring this dialogue in favor of a constant string of personal interpretations that appropriate these ideas for personal use only. Bachelard is more than that. It is Metaphysics. It is Ontology. It is Phenomenology. He says as much quite plainly. Read it for yourself. You will not be disapointed. Review: Great Thinking, but this book? Aboninable. - I won’t go into Bachelard’s thinking here, which is seminal and original — a true comopanion for creative work. My comment here is on the electronic version of the organized text, intended to be read: IT IS ATROCIOUS. The publisher, reputable to be sure, should be ashamed for putting this chopped up, mixed up and not even arranged volume into circulation. The book is readable, but a lot of work has to be done to make the connections and have the reading be continuous. While I appreciate that Bachlard is talking about discrete instants, and contrasting that to eidically connected discourse (or Bergson’s “duration”) a text set out as a book is no place to demonstrate it (in the manner of a Mallarme poem, perhaps?). Shame on Northwestern University Press.