Bruno Clément is Professor Emeritus of Literature and Philosophy at the University of Paris 8. He first made a name for himself as a specialist in Samuel Beckett, on whose work he has published several books (L'Œuvre sans qualités, Le Seuil, 1994; Beckett, PUV, 2018; with François Noudelmann, Samuel Beckett, ADPF, 2006). For many years, his work has focused on reading and commentary (L'invention du commentaire, PUF, 1999; Le lecteur et son modèle, PUF, 1998); and more generally on the writing of philosophy (Le récit de la méthode, Le Seuil, 2005; La voix verticale, Belin, 2012). His latest book in translation (by A. Uhlmann) is on Henri Bergson: Bergson as Writer - Literature in philosophy, Edinburgh University Press, 2024.
Henri Bergson: Philosophy and Ghosts
Wed 7 May at 4pmHenri Bergson (1859-1941) undoubtedly became famous so quickly because he was deeply involved in the scientific research of his time, because he played a prominent political role (he was a respected interlocutor of President Wilson), because he interacted with artists (his daughter was a sculptor), and because he was a bilingual philosopher, writing sometimes in French, sometimes in English.
In this talk, Bruno Clément discusses two lectures Bergson wrote in 1913, both of which talk about ghosts. In the first, Bergson asserts that philosophy will enrich us ‘by breathing back life into the ghosts that surround us’; in the second, he asks the question whether ‘ghosts of the living’ exist.
Although one might say that these are not the same ghosts, the talk will attempt to relate them. And to show that Bergson’s approach is not only comparable to that of the scientists of his time, but also to that of the writers of ghost stories (in particular
Henry James, who influenced him as much as his brother William, the philosopher) and even poets. After all, let’s not forget that in 1927 Bergson was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature…