Counter-figures : An Essay on Antimetaphoric Resistance: Paul Celan's Poetry and Poetics at the Limits of Figurality

Titled "An Essay on Antimetaphoric Resistance", the dissertation investigates what is here being called "Counter-figures": a term which has in this context a certain variety of applications. Any other-than-image or other-than-figure, anything that cannot be exhausted by figuration (and that is, more or less, anything at all, except perhaps the reproducible images and figures themselves) can be considered "counter-figurative" with regard to the formation of images and figures, ideas and schemas, "any graven image, or any likeness of any thing". Singularity and radical alterity, as well as temporality and its peculiar mode of uniqueness are key issues here, and an ethical dimension is implied by, or intertwined with, the aesthetic. In terms borrowed from Paul Celan's "Meridian" speech, poetry may "allow the most idiosyncratic quality of the Other, its time, to participate in the dialogue". This connection between singularity, alterity and temporality is one of the reasons why Celan so strongly objects to the application of the traditional concept of metaphor to poetry. As Celan says, "carrying over [übertragen]" by metaphor may imply an unwillingness to "bear with [mittragen]" and to "endure [ertragen]" the poem. The thesis is divided into two main parts. The first consists of five distinct prolegomena which all address the mentioned variety of applications of the term "counter-figures", and especially the rejection or critique of either metaphor (by Aristotle, for instance) or the concept of metaphor (defined by Aristotle, and sometimes deemed "anti-poetic" by both theorists and poets). Even if we restrict ourselves to the traditional rhetorico-poetical terms, we may see how, for instance, metonymy can be a counter-figure for metaphor, allegory for symbol, and irony for any single trope or for any piece of discourse at all. The limits of figurality may indeed be located at these points of intersection between different types of tropes or figures, and even between figures or tropes and the "non-figurative trope" or "pseudo-figure" called catachresis. The second part, following on from the open-ended prolegomena, concentrates on Paul Celan's poetry and poetics. According to Celan, true poetry is "essentially anti-metaphoric". I argue that inasmuch as we are willing to pay attention to the "will" of the poetic images themselves (the tropes and metaphors in a poem) to be "carried ad absurdum", as Celan invites us to do, we may find alternative ways of reading poetry and approaching its "secret of the encounter", precisely when the traditional rhetorical instruments, and especially the notion of metaphor, become inapplicable or suspicious — and even where they still seem to impose themselves.

Three Sides of a Wall : Obstacles and Border States in Paul Auster's Novels

Tutkielmani käsittelee yhdysvaltalaisen kirjailijan Paul Austerin (s. 1947) romaanituotannossa esiintyviä esteitä ja rajatiloja. Erityisesti olen kiinnostunut siitä, miten Auster liittää nämä "marginaalitilat" amerikkalaiseen vapauden ja laajentumisen ideologiaan sekä kieleen ja kirjoittamiseen. Austerin romaaneissa esteiden ja rajatilojen käsittely voidaan jakaa kolmeen vaiheeseen. Ensimmäisessä vaiheessa henkilöt ovat vahvojen esteiden rajoittamia tai rakentavat niitä itse. Rajoittuneisuus ei kuitenkaan aina tunnu häiritsevän heitä - itse asiassa monet päähenkilöistä tuntevat itsensä onnellisiksi tai vähintäänkin tyytyväisiksi joutuessaan esteen takia pysähdyttämään vapaan liikkeensä. Toisessa vaiheessa henkilöt pyrkivät ylittämään tai rikkomaan esteen päästäkseen toiselle puolelle. Kuten amerikkalaiset esi-isänsä aikoinaan, he etsivät rajatonta, laajaa ja tyhjää tilaa - "suurta tuntematonta" valloitettavakseen. Tällaisen tilan kohdatessaan he joutuvat kuitenkin usein epävarmuuden valtaan. Kolmas vaihe on tutkielmani kannalta tärkein: välitila, josta käytän työssäni nimitystä "in-betweenity". Tähän vaiheeseen päästään kulkemalla ensin kahden muun vaiheen kautta. Juuri tietoisuus näistä kahdesta muusta vaiheesta synnyttää tämän kolmannen tilan, eräänlaisen rajatilan, jossa tajutaan sekä esteiden että esteettömyyden tärkeys. Tämä välitila on Austerille tyypillinen tila, joka kertoo paitsi amerikkalaisen unelman paradoksaalisuudesta myös (kaunokirjallisen) kielenkäytön prosessista. Monet Austerin kirjojen muurin rakentajista tai purkajista voidaan nähdä kirjailijahahmoina, joiden omituinen suhde esteisiin ja rajoihin kumpuaa juuri siitä rajatilasta, jonka asukkaita he kielentaiteilijoina väistämättä ovat. Tällaisen tilan/tilattomuuden kuvaaminen tekee Austerista oman postmodernin aikamme tärkeän kirjailijan - kirjailijan, joka sen sijaan, että pyrkisi eroon paradokseista, sijoittaa hahmonsa niiden sisään. Rajoihin ja esteisiin liittyvä problematiikka ei kuitenkaan ole pelkästään nykyajan ongelma vaan kysymys, joka ihmisen toisaalta rajoja kaipaavan toisaalta rajattomuutta kaipaavan luonteen vuoksi säilyy aina ajankohtaisena. Avainsanat: Paul Auster, este, muuri, raja, Yhdysvallat

Valtion taiteilijatuki taiteilijan määrittelijänä : Määrittelyvallan ehtoja ja ulottuvuuksia pohjoismaisen tukimallin suomalaisessa muunnelmassa

The dissertation studies state support for artists in the context of the societal process of producing definitions of the artist. It examines the dimensions of and conditions for the power of definition inherent in the Nordic model of artists' support. The dissertation consists of a summary in Finnish and five articles published in English. The theoretical framework is based on Pierre Bourdieu's theory of the fields of cultural production and the concept of artistic classification systems introduced by Paul DiMaggio. The framework also makes use of the analyses by Per Mangset and Dag Solhjell of the relationship between Norwegian artistic fields and the state policy of supporting art. The study assumes that an examination of the formulation and content of the policy of support is insufficient, and extends the analysis to the implementation of the policy both at the level of the structures of decision making and at the level of actual decisions and their impacts. The analysis of the economic dimension of the definition power of artists' support uses register-based data on artists' financial situation. Survey data is used in studying the attitudes of Finnish artists toward state support for artists. The analysis of the Nordic policy of supporting artists uses data based on documents and interviews concerning the formulation and implementation of the policy in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. The cross-country comparison contributes to identifying the specific features of the Finnish policy of supporting artists from the point of view of its potential power of definition. The study concludes that the legitimating arguments, goals and means of the policy of supporting artists, as well as the structures and actions of the bodies implementing the policy, have an impact on the formulation of definitions of the artist. For example, a relevant factor in this context seems to be the way in which the relationship between various fields of art and the system of support is organized. According to the comparative analysis, the greater the correspondence between the administrative structures of decision making and the organizational structure of artistic fields, the greater the resistance to change regarding the artistic categories produced. By contrast, those structures of decision making which require negotiations and compromises between various interests have produced artistic categories that have been more inclined to change. The development of the Finnish system of artists' support over the past few decades can be described as a slow expansion towards new areas of art. However, the demarcations and hierarchies between various fields of art have not lost their significance, and state support for artists still concentrates on the same areas as it did when the policy of supporting artists was established. State support always contains an element of power. According to the study, the Nordic policy of supporting artists has both the material and symbolic power to participate in the production of societal definitions of the artist. The legitimating arguments, goals and means of the Finnish artists' support, as well as the criteria for granting it, strengthen the symbolic dimension of this power also in terms of the symbolic capital valued by the artistic fields. In this sense, it can be said that the state is one of the actors in the Finnish fields of art. The symbolic dimension of the definition power of artists' support is, however, in the last instance derived from the artistic fields, and reinforces on its part the definition power of these fields.

Local Politicizations : A Comparison of Finns and French Practicing Democracy

This study examines how do the processes of politicization differ in the Finnish and the French local contexts, and what kinds of consequences do these processes have on the local civic practices, the definitions and redefinitions of democracy and citizenship, the dynamics of power and resistance, and the ways of solving controversies in the public sphere. By means of comparative anthropology of the state , focusing on how democracy actually is practiced in different contexts, politicizations the processes of opening political arenas and recognizing controversy are analyzed. The focus of the study is on local activists engaged in different struggles on various levels of the local public spheres, and local politicians and civil servants participating in these struggles from their respective positions, in two middle-size European cities, Helsinki and Lyon. The empirical analyses of the book compare different political actors and levels of practicing democracy simultaneously. The study is empirically based on four different bodies of material: Ethnographic notes taken during a fieldwork among the activities of several local activist groups; 47 interviews of local activists and politicians; images representing different levels of public portrayals from activist websites (Helsinki N=274, Lyon N=232) and from city information magazines (Helsinki-info N=208, Lyon Citoyen N= 357); and finally, newspaper articles concerning local conflict issues, and reporting on the encounters between local citizens and representatives of the cities (January-June in 2005; Helsingin Sanomat N=96 and Le Progrès N= 102). The study makes three distinctive contributions to the study of current democratic societies: (1) a conceptual one by bringing politicization at the center of a comparison of political cultures, and by considering in parallel the ethnographic group styles theory by Nina Eliasoph and Paul Lichterman, the theory on counter-democracy by Pierre Rosanvallon and the pragmatist justification theory by Luc Boltanski and Laurent Thévenot; (2) an empirical one through the triangulation of ethnographic, thematic interview, visual, and newspaper data through which the different aspects of democratic practices are examined; and (3) a methodological one by developing new ways of analyzing comparative cases an application of Frame Analysis to visual material and the creation of Public Justification Analysis for analyzing morally loaded claims in newspaper reports thus building bridges between cultural, political, and pragmatic sociology. The results of the study indicate that the cultural tools the Finnish civic actors had at their disposal were prone to hinder more than support politicization, whereas the tools the French actors mainly relied on were frequently apt for making politicization possible. This crystallization is defined and detailed in many ways in the analyses of the book. Its consequences to the understanding and future research on the current developments of democracy are multiple, as politicization, while not assuring good results as such, is central to a functioning and vibrant democracy in which injustices can be fixed and new directions and solutions sought collectively.

Conflits de norms de justice distributive dans les fusions entre égaux Le cas de BioM.rieux-Pierre Fabre

Les strictes fusions entre égaux constituent un phénomène très rare. Pourtant, de nombreux dirigeants communiquent sur l’aspect égalitaire des fusions et acquisitions qu’ils conçoivent. Dans cet article, les auteurs expliquent pourquoi les dirigeants <> leurs F&A en <> ; montrent en quoi le postulat égalitaire initial accroît la probabilité de conflits entre deux normes de justice distributive pourtant compl.mentaires : l’égalité et l’équité ; et illustrent leurs propos avec un cas spectaculaire : la fusion égalitaire, puis la separation des entreprises BioMérieux et Pierre Fabre. Paradoxalement, la simple formulation en termes égalitaire des F&A favorise la diffusion de sentiments d’injustice distributive, qui nuit in fine à la performance de l’opération.