Ryan Engley: French Serial Melodrama: Lacan avec Sartre, Derrida, and Deleuze
Public Lecture, December 12, 2022. 6:15–17:45 PM. IG 254 and online
The working group On the Edge at the Institut für Allgemeine und Vergleichende Literaturwissenschaft is happy to announce the public lecture French Serial Melodrama: Lacan avec Sartre, Derrida, and Deleuze by Ryan Engley. It will be held on December 15th, 2022, from 6 to 8 PM c.t. (CET) on Campus Westend in room IG 254 and via Zoom. To join via Zoom, please register here.
Seriality is commonly understood as a media production phenomenon. In this talk, I’ll revise this understanding and push toward a notion of seriality as a philosophical endeavor. Enabling the exploration of this notion will be the examination of conflicting and overlooked theories of seriality from mid-20th century thinkers Jacques Lacan, Jean-Paul Sartre, Jacques Derrida, and Gilles Deleuze. Threading together insights from these philosophers, this talk will present seriality as a primary way to understand mass culture and modern life.
RYAN ENGLEY, Assistant Professor of Media Studies, researches the intersection of psychoanalytic theory and media studies. His areas of expertise are Psychoanalytic Theory, Television Studies and Serial Media. His current book manuscript casts the notion of seriality as a primary social and cultural formation, claiming that the serial has a primary place in psychic life. The book explores this by looking to varied forms of serial media, from podcasts, to streaming television’s binge culture, to film serials past and present, and to social media. Along with Todd McGowan, Engley co-hosts the podcast Why Theory, which brings Continental philosophy and psychoanalytic theory together to examine contemporary phenomena.
We would like to thank the Institut für Allgemeine und Vergleichende Literaturwissenschaft at Goethe University for its support of this event.