Buchcover Spaces of Dissension

Knowledges and Contradictions in Premodern Narratives.

Contribution

Elisabeth Lienert

2019

Contradiction is not just a (post-)modern phenomenon. In premodern narratives, conflicting concepts and logical inconsistencies are omnipresent. This paper focuses on contradictions interdependent with knowledge: Traditional narratives may aggregate different versions of matters rooted in collective memory (heroic epic) or authoritative sources (romances of antiquity), sometimes without concern for the consistency of their own story. Narrative texts may use contradiction for didactic purposes. Contradictions may result in both construction and deconstruction of knowledge. Strategies of irritation and ambiguity involve recipients in the production of meaning. Thus, the concept of contradiction is apt to redefine premodern narrative strategies.

In Lossau, Julia, Daniel Schmidt-Brücken, Ingo H. Warnke (eds.) Spaces of Dissension. Towards a New Perspective on Contradiction (Reihe Contradiction Studies). Wiesbaden: Springer VS, 19-37.

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ISBN: 978-3-658-25989-1

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earthing

“Geography as a discipline stands for a certain worlding, if not earthing, of contradiction, in both theoretical and pracitcal respect.”

Julia Lossau
articulate

“Contradictions need to be articulated in order to exist.”

Martin Nonhoff
relational

“At first I thought contradiction was always a relational thing; but the more I ponder it, the more I think contradiction creates relation.”

Ingo H. Warnke
problem to be solved

“Contradiction is not primarily a problem to be solved but a motor we cannot do without.”

Martin Nonhoff
sustained engagement

“The history of Western philosophy can be understood as a sustained engagement with contradiction.”

Norman Sieroka