Dissertation Abstract

The Role of Writing in the Negation of the

Subject in Mysticism and Fin’ Amor

            The Lover’s goal in both mysticism and fin’ amor is to arrive at union with the beloved.  In order to do so he or she must lose his or her sense of self-worth.  In the literature of both types of experience, the lover employs similar language.  The purpose of my study is to determine to what these similarities of expression can be attributed.  Further, I hope to show that the use of certain forms of language actually plays an active role in this process of self-negation.

Comparing the similarities in language provides an understanding of how lovers put their experience into words.  Past study of overlap between courtly love and mystical love has tended to focus on literary influence, possible borrowings or chance appropriations made to create an image of Love and its experience. This perspective implies that the purpose of writing in these traditions is simply to put into words the author’s personal feelings.  Language is a vehicle that allows the lover to express to others his own experience and perhaps teach others about love’s laws or entertain them.  This is not where I would like to concentrate my investigation.

It seems that certain types of phrasing, or linguistic features used by both types of writers necessarily destabilize the certainty one has in language and reality.  To say antithetical statements that are nonetheless true pushes one to question the nature of the subject as well as the nature of language.  Could certain types of language games produce certain types of doubts or crises? Could they in fact aid in the process of self-deconstruction? This is the area I would like to explore.