Reading Hegel - (Thinking Literature) by Robert Lucas Scott (Paperback)

About the Book

"Reading Hegel retrieves Hegelian speculative experience for literary theory. The relationship between Hegel and literary theory has for a long time been both contested and paradoxical. On the one hand, "theory" is often skeptical of all that Hegel ostensibly stood for: idealism, systematicity, and identity at the expense of difference. Yet, in spite of itself, literary theory is taken to owe a profound debt to Hegel's philosophy. Robert Lucas Scott's book complicates this account and argues that literary theory has made the mistake of abstracting Hegel's thought from its more dynamic presentation in Hegel's writings, reducing "Hegel" to a series of propositions or positions. Literary theory, Scott argues, misses what is perhaps the greatest innovation of Hegel's philosophy: a presentation of experience that begins precisely by setting aside all preconceptions or prior assumptions. It is on this point that Hegel's philosophy itself approaches literature: its content cannot be simply abstracted from the singular experience of reading it. Only through a mode of reading alive to speculative experience can literary theory become truly Hegelian. Scott's exposition of Hegel offers a model of reading with relevance beyond philosophy: one that is critical without pretensions of mastery and detachment and that honors the singularity of the reading experience without succumbing to the subjectivism of the "postcritical." The book also includes engagements with the work of Luther, Kant, Marx, Gillian Rose, Fredric Jameson, Robert Brandom, Catherine Malabou, and more in its recovery of Hegel's thought for a critical understanding of our time"--

Book Synopsis

Retrieves Hegelian speculative experience for literary theory.

The relationship between Hegel and literary theory has for a long time been both contested and paradoxical. On the one hand, "theory" is often skeptical of all that Hegel ostensibly stood for: idealism, systematicity, and identity at the expense of difference. Yet, in spite of itself, literary theory is taken to owe a profound debt to Hegel's philosophy. Robert Lucas Scott's book complicates this account and argues that literary theory has made the mistake of abstracting Hegel's thought from its more dynamic presentation in Hegel's writings, reducing "Hegel" to a series of propositions or positions. Literary theory, Scott argues, misses what is perhaps the greatest innovation of Hegel's philosophy: a presentation of experience that begins precisely by setting aside all preconceptions or prior assumptions. It is on this point that Hegel's philosophy itself approaches literature: its content cannot be simply abstracted from the singular experience of reading it. Only through a mode of reading alive to speculative experience can literary theory become truly Hegelian. Scott's exposition of Hegel offers a model of reading with relevance beyond philosophy: one that is critical without pretensions of mastery and detachment and that honors the singularity of the reading experience without succumbing to the subjectivism of the "postcritical."

The book also includes engagements with the work of Luther, Kant, Marx, Gillian Rose, Fredric Jameson, Robert Brandom, Catherine Malabou, and more in its recovery of Hegel's thought for a critical understanding of our time.

Review Quotes

"An impressive, original, and exhilarating exploration of Hegel's theory and practice of speculative reading (and writing) that demonstrates the profound importance of dialectical thinking for contemporary literary theory. Offering a fine-grained reading of some of the most difficult passages of Hegel's philosophy, Scott makes a compelling argument for the centrality of what he calls 'speculative experience'--specifically, the experience of speculative reading as a repetitive, retroactively self-correcting, self-defamiliarizing, self-undermining, and self-surprising procedure. We need to learn again how to read. This book shows us how."-- "Rebecca Comay, University of Toronto"

"Scott foregrounds the experiential character of Hegelian thinking and reminds us that on the Hegelian path nothing may be presupposed or taken away. In this sense, reading Hegel is like reading literary texts. Those for whom that is too inconsequential may turn to Scott's argument that Hegel's philosophy yields caricatures, which can function as seeds for further growth and harvest. The ironic twists abound in this sophisticated defense of the experience of reading."-- "Katrin Pahl, Johns Hopkins University"

"Scott offers a brilliant series of readings that do not merely elucidate the irony of truth but also extend an urgent reminder of the critical role that reading can play in an era where, ironically, 'postcritical' appeals to experiential immediacy have risen against the backdrop of unprecedented technological mediation. Elaborating pivotal moments in the oeuvres of Hegel and his readers--both at the level of conceptual formations as well as specific formulations; or, at the level of the 'spirit' and the 'letter'--Scott exposes the far-reaching implications of Hegelian thought for the practice of theory today."-- "Kristina Mendicino, Brown University"

About the Author

Robert Lucas Scott is an arts research fellow at Jesus College, University of Cambridge. He is coeditor of Gillian Rose's lectures, Marxist Modernism: Introductory Lectures on Frankfurt School Critical Theory.