Bergson as Writer

Henri Bergson was awarded The Noble Prize for Literature in 1927. However, literary writers do not consider him – and in fact never cite him – as one of their own. The book reads Henri Bergson as a writer whose thought is inseparable from his tireless reflection on the question of the written expression. It adds new insights into Bergson’s philosophical achievements through an analysis of the literary techniques he develops to express his theoretical insights. Among these techniques, the book places particular emphasis on the use of a number of figures dear to Bergson, in particular epanorthosis, a figure that consists in infinitely correcting a necessarily inadequate formulation, and prosopopoeia through which things are given voice, and doing so involves imagining oneself inside things. The book also takes a long look at what philosophical thought can gain from narrative, and more generally from fiction, something that established philosophy is not always ready to acknowledge. The close analysis of rhetorical technique uncovers the effect this has on Bergson’s philosophical texts. Reading all Bergson philosophical texts which the tools of literature to systematically consider the theoretical consequences, this book reveals that Bergson was not only a great philosopher but that if he was so, it is because he was also a highly skilled and innovative writer. Finally, the book devotes a long section to Bergson's theses on teaching, and reflects on how today's teachers might benefit from these considerations.