Beyond Words: Philosophy, Fiction, and the Unsayable [Paperback]

It is commonplace to regard many great works of literaturepoems, dramas, works of fictionas in some sense philosophical. Yet ever since Plato, there has been a tension between the kind of abstract theorizing that goes on in philosophy and the focus on concrete particulars that occurs in poetry and fiction. Beyond Words: Philosophy, Fiction, and the Unsayable elaborates on and addresses this Platonic tension, asking in what sense, if any, literature in the form of poetry, drama, short stories, and novels can contribute significantly to our philosophical understanding. Timothy Cleveland suggests there is something in certain poems, novels, and stories that makes them especially suited to expanding our awareness and understanding into the nature of things otherwise unsayable and unconceived. Such literary works show us something that a theoreticalscientific or philosophicaldiscourse cannot literally say.Timothy Cleveland is professor of philosophy at New Mexico State University.

In a wide-ranging discussion that focuses on the relationship between philosophy and literature, Cleveland argues that some works of fiction can point readers toward what is unsayable. Against Plato, the author claims there is a sense in which literature can be philosophical by providing an enhanced awareness of the world, but trying to put this into words risks losing it. Among other reflections, Cleveland offers an extended account of T. S. Eliots The Waste Land to show how the poem works as a kind of performance that provides a strong sense of the selfs fragmentation in the modern world. It may seem paradoxical to say that one can talk about the unsayable, but poetry, novels, negative theology, and Zen Buddhist koans can get beneath the surface level of meaning to transform one from within. Cleveland describes his work as a philosophical prolegomena to fiction and the unsayable (p. 4). He does not get bogged down in theory but offers insights and a thoughtful discussion concernil"