Merleau-Ponty reader of Proust: study of the relationship between philosophy and literature from the courses Le problème de la parole (1953-1954) and L'institution, la passivité (1954-1955)

• Grant number: 23/03706-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: September 01, 2023
• End date: August 31, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Philosophy - History of Philosophy
• Principal Investigator: Silvana de Souza Ramos
• Grantee: Iracy Ferreira dos Santos Júnior
• Supervisor: Emmanuel de Saint Aubert
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: École Normale Supérieure, Paris (ENS), France
• Associated to the scholarship: 21/06235-6 - Ontology, metaphor and modern literature in Merleau-Ponty, BP.DR

Abstract

This internship project will last 12 months and will be held at the École Normale Supérieure (ENS), in Paris, supervised by Professor of research Emmanuel de Saint Aubert. We propose to investigate the relationship between Proust's modern literature and Merleau-Ponty's philosophy from the analysis of the courses he taught at the Collège de France: Le Problème de la parole, published in 2020, and L'Institution, la passivité, published in 1996. Proust's literary work is constant reference for Merleau-Ponty and fosters reflections on literary language, the paradoxes of modern literature, the problem of the speech and the institution, as well as the passage from the sensible world to the world of expression. These reflections collaborate to research on the function of the writer and the philosopher and the empiètement between philosophy and non-philosophy. The systematic analysis of these courses and the access to Merleau-Ponty's unpublished archives at the Bibliothèque nationale de France are indispensable for our research succeed. These courses will allow us to deepen our acquired knowledges, to consult original texts, resulting in academic gains for contemporary studies on literature and its paradoxes, language, and the institution of sense in Merleau-Ponty's thought. Besides, we intend to participate in academic events, seminars, and courses and to write articles and chapters of the thesis. Therefore, this internship project is justified because the contact with researchers from different places favours a greater exchange of knowledges with members of the group of studies at the University of São Paulo and, consequently, a deepening of the thesis on the relationship between Merleau-Ponty's philosophy and Proust's literature. (AU)