Short Title

POLITICS IN LITERATURE

Full Title

Politics in Literature

Brief Description

Political philosophy uses and interprets a number of genres, including literary ones beginning from Greek tragedies to modern novels. This research is focused on specific issues relevant to political theories such as glory and greatness, artificial eternity, animality, etc.

Research Period

2 years

Research Type

Individual

Project Supervisor

Gábor Soós

Researcher

Balázs Zoltán

Contact

balazs.zoltan@tk.mta.hu

Research Summary

I have been doing this research for a number of years. Some results have already been published, some are forthcoming. My main focus is the concept of greatness which I consider a possible integrative value of politics, an alternative to the friend and foe conception of Carl Schmitt. It is noteworthy the he himself engaged in interpreting literary texts in a political theoretical framework: this is his Hamlet or Hecuba: The Intrusion of Time into the Play. Texts that are relevant to my purposes include plays of Sophocles, Shakespeare, Calderon and Kleist.
Another issue is the problem of animality that has emerged during the research. From Hobbes’ Leviathan and Mandeville’s Fable of the Bees even modern political philosophy is more open to allegorical approaches than many other branches of philosophy. This encourages the researcher to look for literary works that make use of animality in exploring the human condition. Swift and Kafka are my major examples.