A Study On Giorgio Agamben’s “Gesture” Literary Thought

Giorgio Agamben is an Italian contemporary theorist and philosopher.His literary and art thought is closely related to his life political thought.He proposed several original concepts,such as "posture","potential","blasphemy","taste" and so on.Agamben’s literary and artistic thought of "gesture" runs through his philosophy.The concept of "attitude" is a key to open Agamben’s literary thought.Agamben pointed out that in the 19th century,the western bourgeoisie lost its "attitude",blurred and lost the real existence of life,and human lost the most authentic state of freedom in life.He emphasizes that "gesture" is a means without purpose,is the wordless in language,is the pure mediation,does not specify what to say,is the empty place of expression,pays attention to the expression of ineffable experience,and is also a unique form of existence in the works of the author.Agamben’s "gesture" literary and artistic thought also involves many aspects such as image,poetics and literary criticism.Agamben provides a unique way of thinking,aiming to make people get rid of the bondage and control of various "devices",so as to achieve the existence of the authenticity of human life,and finally realize the complete liberation and redemption of human beings.This paper attempts to systematically study and sort out Giorgio Agamben’s "gesture" literary and artistic thought,explore its theoretical origin and important connotation,and reflect and criticize his theory,so as to provide ideas and methods for solving some current problems.In addition to the introduction and conclusion,the thesis is divided into four chapters,the specific content is as follows:The first chapter introduces the theoretical origin of Agamben’s "gesture" literary and artistic thought.The "gesture" theory of Brecht,Benjamin,Comrel and others had a direct impact on Agamben’s "gesture" literary and artistic thought.People lost their true selves in the illusion created by "landscape society",the nihilization of literature and art,the disappearance of "light rhyme" and the loss of modern people’s "attitude" are the cultural background of his literary and artistic thoughts.Then,from the perspective of Agamben’s life politics,this paper investigates and analyzes the philosophical connotation of his literary and artistic thought of "gesture",points out the connection between "gesture" and sacred man,exceptional state and naked life,and reveals the philosophical connotation of "gesture" : pure mediation,the state of expressing the true freedom of life.The second chapter elaborates the literary thought of "gesture" on the image level.The first section points out the relationship between image as a memory technology and memory.Image can obtain infinite possibilities and vitality by reorganizing and transforming memory.The second section is the metaphor of image--Nifu,discusses Agamben’s inheritance and development of Abbi Warburg’s "Nameless learning",and further proposes that Nifu activates vitality and tension through the combination of image and human.The third section analyzes the features of anti-landscape and anti-narrative in the "gesture" of images,and concludes that the "gesture" of images is the negation of "landscape" and an anti-narrative game.The fourth section discusses the film montage and gesture redemption,and clarifies the operation of gesture: the discontinuity tension of montage.Agamben proposed a Messianic time in the sense of "remaining time" that could come at any time.It also points out the transcendental conditions of the film montage--repetition and cessation,in order to fulfill the Messianic salvation mission.The third chapter elaborates Forrest Gump’s "pose" literary thought in poetics.The first section analyzes the language of "gesture".It reveals the loss of "ineffable experience" of modern people and thinks that it is necessary to activate the "potential" of thought and activate "ineffable experience".The second stanza takes place in "gestures".It illustrates that poetry is to reject and end the "grace" of a specific meaning,and that poetry expresses people’s pure intention and true state.The third section points out that as the author of gesture,game presence and desecration device,represents Agamben’s inheritance and development of Foucault’s "What is author",and further proposes that as the author of gesture,the game presence is also the desecration and resistance to various "devices".The fourth section is the demonstration and redemption of life poetics,which explains the specific meaning of Forrest Gump’s life poetics and shows its great effect of releasing life will and possibility.The fourth chapter elucidates Agamben’s "posture" literary criticism--posture criticism.Gesture criticism is the specific application of gesture theory in the practice of literary criticism.The first section presents the resistance of gesture from the perspective of "contemporaries",analyzes the unique connotation of "contemporaries" and analyzes their resistance to "device".The second section reveals the main connotation of postural criticism,that is,it pays attention to the potential of expression,the expression of ineffable experience,the political field of life and the real existence of life.The third section mainly uses gesture criticism to carry out specific criticism practice,and makes a deep and detailed analysis of Kafka’s novels The Lawsuit and the Castle.