The International Reception of Existentialism

Tagung: The International Reception of Existentialism (28.-29.09.2018)

Veranstalter: Abteilung für Vergleichende Literaturwissenschaft der Universität Wien, Sartre-Gesellschaft (AT, DE, CH)

Datum der Veranstaltung: 28. und 29. September 2018

Ort: Alte Kapelle, Campus der Universität Wien, Hof 2.8, Spitalgasse 2, 1090 Wien

From his emergence as a world-famous philosopher, dramatist, and novelist to his becoming the ‘world’s conscience’ through his political commitment, Jean-Paul Sartre dominated intellectual discourse for a quarter of a century. Shaping the mind-set of a generation between 1943 and 1968, his work influenced writers and thinkers both in France and far beyond.

The contributions address the reception of Sartrean thought outside of France, reflecting on its presence in the areas of literature, philosophy, psychology, and sociology. Through analysis of different forms of cultural transfer (e.g. translation, censorship) in various mediums (e.g. literary periodicals, plays) and institutions (e.g. universities, libraries), the conference seeks to explore and re-examine the worldwide impact of existentialism.

Conference Program

Friday, September 28th

9:00 a.m.    Registration

9:15 a.m.    Welcome Address

9:30 a.m.    Alfred Betschart, Sartre Society (CH): The International Reception of Existentialism: An Overview

Session 1 (Chair: Adrian van den Hoven)

10:00 a.m.    Ronald Aronson, Wayne State University, Michigan (US): Existentialist Marxism: Sartre’s Reception by the American New Left
10:40 a.m.    Dror Yinon, Bar-Ilan University (IL): How Concrete Can One Get? Sartre, Marcuse, and the Conceptualization of the Concrete

11:20 a.m.    Coffee Break

Session 2 (Chair: Julia Elsky)

11:40 a.m.    Rony Klein, Tel Aviv University (IL): L’Influence de Sartre sur la littérature israélienne: le cas de Hanokh Levin
12:20 p.m.    Hiroaki Seki, University of Tokyo (JP), and Nariaki Kobayashi, University of Hitotsubashi (JP): L’Épreuve de l’Autre: une perspective de l’étude sartrienne au Japon

1:00 p.m.    Lunch Break

Session 3 (Chair: Alfred Betschart)

2:00 p.m.    Vincent von Wroblewsky, Sartre Society (DE): Sartre en Allemagne, même à l’Est
2:40 p.m.    Juliane Werner, University of Vienna (AT): French Cultural Policy and the Transfer of Existentialism in Allied-Occupied Austria
3:20 p.m.    Norbert Bachleitner, University of Vienna (AT): Guéhenno in Gehenna. The English and German Translations of La nausée

4:00 p.m.    Coffee Break

Session 4 (Chair: Christoph Leschanz)

4:20 p.m.    Rosie Germain, Liverpool Hope University (UK): The Reception of Jean-Paul Sartre at the Universities of Manchester and Oxford after 1945
5:00 p.m.    Jamie Andrews, The British Library (UK): “Cut the lot”: Censoring the Existentialists in the British Theatre
5:40 p.m.    Adrian van den Hoven, University of Windsor (CA): The Reception of Sartre’s Plays: The Respectful Prostitute and Dirty Hands during the Cold War Period

6:30 p.m.    Reception (Old Chapel) with live music by Konstantin and Alexander Wladigeroff

Saturday, September 29th

Session 5 (Chair: Patrick Baert)

9:00 a.m.    Francesco Caddeo (FR): L’Impact de l’existentialisme (sartrien) dans la philosophie italienne
9:40 a.m.    Maria Russo, San Raffaele University (IT): Existentialism and Cinema: the Dialectic of Bad Faith     and Authenticity in Federico Fellini’s 8½
10:20 a.m.    Raoul Kirchmayr, University of Trieste (IT): Towards an Ethics of the Singularity. Sartre’s Lectures at the Gramsci’s Institute (1961-64) and their Consequences

11:00 a.m.    Coffee Break

Session 6 (Chair: Damon Boria)

11:20 a.m.    Hamid Andishan, University of Ottawa (CA): Middle Eastern Existentialism
12:00 p.m.    Yoav Di-Capua, University of Texas (US): Arab Existentialism: Its Scope, Function and Fate

12:40 p.m.    Lunch Break

Session 7 (Chair: Yoav Di-Capua)

1:40 p.m.    Julia Elsky, Loyola University Chicago (US): Language and Existentialism: Reception of the Absurd at Yale French Studies (1940s-1950s)
2:20 p.m.    Damon Boria, Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady University, Louisiana (US): Literary Existentialism in the United States: The Cases of Percy and Vonnegut
3:00 p.m.    Cameron Bassiri and Matthew Senie, American University, Washington (US): Existential Psychoanalysis in America

3:40 p.m.     Coffee Break

Session 8 (Chair: Ronald Aronson)

4:00 p.m.     Patrick Baert, University of Cambridge (UK): The Reception of Existentialism in Sociology
4:40 p.m.     Robert Bernasconi, Pennsylvania State University (US): Existentialism against Colonialism: Frantz Fanon’s Dialectic of Freedom
5:20 p.m.    Annie Cohen-Solal (FR): The Becoming-World of Philosophy. Sartre’s Unprecedented Reception in Brazil, Summer 1960

6:30 p.m.     Round Table Discussion

7:30 p.m.     Conference Dinner

Weitere Informationen und Programmdetails: https://ire.univie.ac.at.

Anmeldung bis zum 27. September an juliane.werner@univie.ac.at erbeten