Dr. Birger Van Wesenbeek
Professor Birger van Wesenbeek of the English Literature Department has written a scholarly article “Paul de Mans Flemish” for the winter issue of Duke University Press’s leading quarterly Comparative Literature.
As the oldest journal in the field in the United States and the flagship journal of the American Comparative Literature Association (ACLA), Comparative Literature publishes cutting-edge research on literary history and theory.
Dr. Vanwesenbeeck’s essay breaks new ground by showing how the late English-speaking writings of Belgian-born theorist Paul de Man attest to his ongoing experience of the loss of his native language. is developing. More pertinently, Vanwesenbeeck’s essay, which de Man helped to discover with the French philosopher Jacques Derrida, deconstructed the theory of ‘language as the other’, was the basis for the language of these two thinkers. It argues that it is rooted in relationships that are not holistic. That is, English and French.
Vanwesenbeeck’s essays are accessible online and abstracts are available online.
