Robert Harvey (literary theorist)
Encyclopedia
Robert Harvey is a literary scholar and academic. He is Professor at the State University of New York at Stony Brook
where he teaches comparative literature, literatures written in French, and theory. His research and publications are mostly concerned with the interpenetrations of literary and philosophical discourses.
He has written on Samuel Beckett
, Primo Levi
, Jean-François Lyotard
, Jean-Paul Sartre
, Marguerite Duras
, Marcel Duchamp
and Michel Deguy and has translated Lyotard, Deguy, Michel Foucault
, Jacques Derrida
, Paul Ricœur, and other French thinkers. His most recent books are De l’exception à la règle (on USA PATRIOT Act
) and Les Écrits de Marguerite Duras (Éditions de l’Imec, 2009), and Witnessness: Beckett, Levi, Dante and the Foundations of Ethics (Continuum
, 2010). Harvey is one of several scholars preparing the Pléiade edition of the complete works of Marguerite Duras (volumes I and II forthcoming in 2011 and volumes III and IV in 2014).
Harvey is chair of the Department of Comparative Literary and Cultural Studies at Stony Brook and was a Program Director at the Collège International de Philosophie
in Paris, from 2001 until 2007.
Harvey completed his B.A in French Literature at the University of California, Berkeley
in 1972, and an M.A. at San Francisco State University
in 1975. He returned to academia in 1980 and completed his doctoral dissertation on Jean-Paul Sartre in 1988. During that period he also studied at the École Normale Supérieure
and the Université de Paris VII (Jussieu). Harvey obtained an Habilitation à diriger des recherches
(H.D.R.) degree in 2001 with a thesis entitled "Les Styles de l'éthique".
State University of New York at Stony Brook
The State University of New York at Stony Brook, also known as Stony Brook University, is a public research university located in Stony Brook, New York, on the North Shore of Long Island, about east of Manhattan....
where he teaches comparative literature, literatures written in French, and theory. His research and publications are mostly concerned with the interpenetrations of literary and philosophical discourses.
He has written on Samuel Beckett
Samuel Beckett
Samuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet. He wrote both in English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.Beckett is widely regarded as among the most...
, Primo Levi
Primo Levi
Primo Michele Levi was an Italian Jewish chemist and writer. He was the author of two novels and several collections of short stories, essays, and poems, but is best known for If This Is a Man, his account of the year he spent as a prisoner in the Auschwitz concentration camp in Nazi-occupied Poland...
, Jean-François Lyotard
Jean-François Lyotard
Jean-François Lyotard was a French philosopher and literary theorist. He is well known for his articulation of postmodernism after the late 1970s and the analysis of the impact of postmodernity on the human condition...
, Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre was a French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic. He was one of the leading figures in 20th century French philosophy, particularly Marxism, and was one of the key figures in literary...
, Marguerite Duras
Marguerite Duras
Marguerite Donnadieu, better known as Marguerite Duras was a French writer and film director.-Background:...
, Marcel Duchamp
Marcel Duchamp
Marcel Duchamp was a French artist whose work is most often associated with the Dadaist and Surrealist movements. Considered by some to be one of the most important artists of the 20th century, Duchamp's output influenced the development of post-World War I Western art...
and Michel Deguy and has translated Lyotard, Deguy, Michel Foucault
Michel Foucault
Michel Foucault , born Paul-Michel Foucault , was a French philosopher, social theorist and historian of ideas...
, Jacques Derrida
Jacques Derrida
Jacques Derrida was a French philosopher, born in French Algeria. He developed the critical theory known as deconstruction and his work has been labeled as post-structuralism and associated with postmodern philosophy...
, Paul Ricœur, and other French thinkers. His most recent books are De l’exception à la règle (on USA PATRIOT Act
USA PATRIOT Act
The USA PATRIOT Act is an Act of the U.S. Congress that was signed into law by President George W. Bush on October 26, 2001...
) and Les Écrits de Marguerite Duras (Éditions de l’Imec, 2009), and Witnessness: Beckett, Levi, Dante and the Foundations of Ethics (Continuum
Continuum International Publishing Group
The Continuum International Publishing Group is a publisher of books, with its editorial offices in London and New York City. It had been owned by Nova Capital Management since 2005...
, 2010). Harvey is one of several scholars preparing the Pléiade edition of the complete works of Marguerite Duras (volumes I and II forthcoming in 2011 and volumes III and IV in 2014).
Harvey is chair of the Department of Comparative Literary and Cultural Studies at Stony Brook and was a Program Director at the Collège International de Philosophie
Collège international de philosophie
The Collège international de philosophie , located in Paris' 5th arrondissement, is a tertiary education institute placed under the trusteeship of the French government department of research and chartered under the French 1901 Law on associations...
in Paris, from 2001 until 2007.
Harvey completed his B.A in French Literature at the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
in 1972, and an M.A. at San Francisco State University
San Francisco State University
San Francisco State University is a public university located in San Francisco, California. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers over 100 areas of study from nine academic colleges...
in 1975. He returned to academia in 1980 and completed his doctoral dissertation on Jean-Paul Sartre in 1988. During that period he also studied at the École Normale Supérieure
École Normale Supérieure
The École normale supérieure is one of the most prestigious French grandes écoles...
and the Université de Paris VII (Jussieu). Harvey obtained an Habilitation à diriger des recherches
Habilitation
Habilitation is the highest academic qualification a scholar can achieve by his or her own pursuit in several European and Asian countries. Earned after obtaining a research doctorate, such as a PhD, habilitation requires the candidate to write a professorial thesis based on independent...
(H.D.R.) degree in 2001 with a thesis entitled "Les Styles de l'éthique".
Books
- (2010) Witnessness: Beckett, Levi, Dante and the Foundations of Ethics. New York & London: Continuum
- (2009) Les Écrits de Marguerite Duras. Bibliographie des œuvres et de la critique, 1940-2006 (with Bernard Alazet and Hélène Volat). Paris: Éditions de l'Imec
- (2006) De l'exception à la règle. USA PATRIOT Act (with Hélène Volat). Paris: Lignes & Manifestes
- (2003) Témoins d'artifice. Paris: L'Harmattan
- (2002) Les Écrits de Michel Deguy: Bibliographie des œuvres et de la critique, 1960-2000. Paris: Éditions de l'Imec
- (1997) Marguerite Duras: A Bio-Bibliography (with Hélène Volat). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press
- (1991) Search for a Father: Sartre, Paternity and the Question of Ethics. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press
Edited Volumes
- (2004) Politique et filiation (with E. Ann Kaplan and François NoudelmannFrançois NoudelmannFrançois Noudelmann is a contemporary French philosopher, university professor and radio producer.François Noudelmann is currently a professor at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee , the University of Paris VIII , Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and New York University...
) - (2003) Queer: Repenser les identités / Rue Descartes 40 (with Pascal Le Brun-Cordier). Paris: PUF
- (2002) Marguerite Duras: la tentation du poétique (with Bernard Alazet and Christiane Blot-Labarrère). Paris:
- (2001) Jean-François Lyotard: Time and Judgment Yale French Studies 99 (with Lawrence R. Schehr). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press
- (2001) Joyous Wakes, Dignified Deaths: Reflections on Death and Dignity. Stony Brook: The Humanities Institute (Occasional Papers, 2)
- (2000) Afterwords: Essays in Memory of Jean-François Lyotard. Stony Brook: The Humanities Institute (Occasional Papers, 1)