From: David Hansel <[email protected]>
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Call for Papers
"Readings of Difficult Freedom"
International Conference
Société internationale de recherches Emmanuel Levinas (SIREL)
North American Levinas Society (NALS)
Toulouse (France)
5-9 July 2010
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First published in 1963, with a second edition in 1976,
Difficile Liberté, Essais sur le judaïsme is considered
Levinas' most accessible book and an excellent introduction
to his work. This collection of essays, which appeared in a
variety of journals (L'arche, Information juive, L'esprit,
Evidences, etc.) reflects the society, culture and
philosophy of France from the 1950s to the 1970s. While
closely linked to this era (end of World War II, the
discovery of the horror of the concentration camps,
Stalinism, the founding of the State of Israel) Difficile
Liberté is by no means a collection of circumstantial
writings.
In Difficile Liberté Levinas defines post-Holocaust Judaism,
and sets out the requirements and need for Jewish thought
and education in an authentic but critical dialogue with
modern society. These considerations are frequently
interspersed with references to writers and thinkers who
influenced Levinas such as Claudel, Heidegger, Hegel,
Spinoza, S. Weil, Gordin and Rosenzweig, but more often to
sacred texts, the Bible and the words of the Sages of Israel
which Levinas continually emphasized the need to study. Does
Levinas' modernity paradoxically lie in his appeal to Jews
to return to these old "worm-eaten tractates" ("the Jew of
the Talmud should take precedence over the Jew of the
Psalms")? These articles are still innovative, sharp,
concise and overarching; the style is sometimes lyrical
Levinas rarely wrote in such a strident, argumentative way,
blending conviction and stupefaction. The key to what unites
Levinas' work the link between his philosophical writings
and his specifically Jewish dimension may just be found in
Difficile Liberté.
Beyond the obligatory analysis of the title (taken from the
last few words of the article "Education and Prayer") this
conference aims not only to place the essays in Difficult
Freedom in their historical context and within the
trajectory of Levinas' thought, but more importantly to
examine them afresh with the wonderment and questions they
still elicit today. Diachronic and synchronic analyses of
the articles in Difficle Liberté will help situate them with
respect to Levinas' other works. Issues such as the
following could be explored:
Phenomenology, ethics, the Holocaust, Israel, the Talmudic
Readings, Levinas' views of science and technology, his
relationship to Heidegger, Rozensweig, Bergson, French
philosophers and writers, Levinas' relationship to
Christianity, Levinas the educator, etc...
This international conference is an initiative of the
Société internationale de Recherches Emmanuel Levinas
(SIREL, Paris, www.sirel-levinas.org), and the North American
Levinas Society (Purdue, USA, www.levinas-society.org). The
conference will host participants from all over the world,
with 120 projected presentations. Priority will be given to
students and young researchers. The proceedings will be
published (articles selected by the editorial committee). If
funding permits, some financial aid may be made available,
in particular to young researchers.
Submissions
1. On or before September 30, 2009: submission of a 500-word
abstract (talks will be 20 minutes, in French or in
English) and a short bio-bibliography of the author(s).
2. On or before November 15, 2009: notification, based on
the decision of the scientific committee.
3. February 2010: publication of conference program.
All submissions (preferably as Microsoft Word files) and
questions concerning the conference should be sent
electronically to: [email protected]
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