Recent Publications and Presentations
Steve Jauss, conference paper:
“Reconsidering the Early History of the Paradox of Tragedy,” 65th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Aesthetics, Los Angeles, November 7-10, 2007.
Abstract: This paper questions three received views about the early eighteenth-century history of the paradox of tragedy: (i) that the paradox is a simple, modal paradox (about how tragic pleasure is possible), (ii) that Hume and Dubos endorse radically different solutions to the paradox, and (iii) that Hume accurately represents—and rightly criticizes—Dubos’s solution. I propose that Hume and Dubos recognize at least three distinct paradoxes of tragedy, that Hume’s interpretation and criticism of Dubos’s solution are problematic, and that there is a comfortable reading of Dubos according to which he and Hume adopt argumentative strategies that are broadly similar.
Steve Jauss’ ealier paper, Associationism and Taste Theory in Archiblad Alison’s Essays, can be viewed here. (The definitive version is available at www.blackwell-synergy.com; to link to the offical version, click here.)