Nude Enumerated

Jean-Luc Nancy at his most lyrical: “Nude Enumerated” is a prose-poem, an eloquent evocation of the naked body, figure drawing through words. An exploration of what it means to be truly naked.

Neither Seeing Nor Having (Ni le voir ni l’avoir)

A study of Gérard Granel’s rich examination of Dante’s obsessed lovers, Paolo and Francesca. The loss of consciousness as the moment of heightened awareness.

Body of Pleasure

“The Body of Pleasure” is an investigation into what exactly “pleasure” means, and how precisely the body experiences it. How one loses one’s sense of self through touch, and through the other.

Rühren, Berühren, Aufruhr (Moving, Touching, Uprising)

A poetic yet strangely practical examination of our most intimate sense—touch. Touch is both the most dangerous—sentimentally and legally—of our senses, yet curiously the least examined.

Coming

Coming is a lyrical, erudite examination of the French notion of jouissance. How did jouissance evolve from referring to the pleasure of possessing a material thing (property, wealth) to the pleasure of orgasm, from appropriation to dis-appropriation, from consumption to consummation? The philosophers Adèle van Reeth and Jean-Luc Nancy engage in a lively dialogue touching on authors as varied as Spinoza, Hegel, Saint Augustine, the Marquis de Sade, Marguerite Duras, and Henry Miller, and on subjects ranging from consumerism to video games to mysticism.