Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 2002. Vol. 3. Eger Journal of English Studies.(Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 29)

Attila Debreceni: The Notion of the "Sublime" in Contemporary English, French and Hungarian Literary Criticism

The Notion of the "Sublime" in Contemporary English, French and Hungarian Literary Criticism Attila Debreczeni 1 Postmodern Approach Scholars have become more interested than ever in the old, aesthetic category of the sublime in the past decade or so. Postmodern thinkers have recognized the problem concerning it, one they have been dealing with for a long time: the question of unspeakable expressions coming from its very essence. Jean-Francois Lyotard has written several works about these investigations. He says in his study

, Le sublime et l

}avant-garde: "Le mot sublime est aujourd'hui d'un usage courant en fran^ais populaire pour signifier ce qui provoque l'étonnement (ä peu prés le great américain) et l'admiration. Mais l'idée qu'il connote appartient aussi ä la réflexion la plus rigoureuse sur l'art depuis au moins deux siécles. Newman [viz. Barnett Baruch Newman, painter] n'ignore pas l'enjeu esthétique et philosophique auquel le mot sublime est attache. [...] Quand done il recherche la sublimité dans l'ici et le maintenant, Newman rompt avec l'éloquence de l'art romantique, mais il n'en rejette pas la táche fondamentale, qui est que l'expression picturale ou autre soit le témoin de l'inexprimable. L'inexprimable ne réside pas en un la -bas, un autre monde, un autre temps, mais en ceci: qu'il arrive (quelqu e chose)."

1 This question is closely related to the most recent interest towards the philosophy of Kant. Without mention of other traits of the Kant renaissance, it is enough to refer to various motifs related to the category of the sublime. It is the analysis of the sublime in Critic of Judgement that becomes the main starting point of new thinkers, but their interpretations often seem reinterpretations as is pointed out by Jörg Zimmermann

2 and Miklós Almási." Le sentiment du sublime, dit Lyotard, "un plaisir mélé de 1 Jean-Fran^ois Lyotard, "Le sublime et 1'

avant-garde," in L'inhumain, Paris, 1988, 104; cf. "L'instant, Newman," in op. cit., 89—99; Bertalan Pethő, Postmodern

, Budapest, 1992, 108-114. 2 "A fenséges képei," (Pictures of the Sublime) in Enigma Nos. 11—12, 33—49. 3 "Egy fogalom rekonstrukciója," (The reconstruction of a notion) in Holmi 1992, September, 1259-1263. figer Journal of linglish Studies, Volume 111, 2(X>2 1-10