Bergson as Writer: Literature in Philosophy

Henri Bergson was awarded The Nobel Prize for Literature in 1927. However, literary writers do not consider him — and in fact never cite him — as one of their own. Bruno Clément reads Henri Bergson as a writer whose thought is inseparable from a tireless reflection on the question of his written expression. Clément adds new insights into Bergson’s philosophical achievements through an analysis of the literary techniques he develops to express his theoretical insights. This close analysis of rhetorical technique analyses the effect on Bergson’s philosophical texts. Reading all of Bergson’s philosophical texts with the tools of literature, to systematically consider the theoretical consequences, he reveals that Bergson was not only a philosopher but a highly skilled and innovative writer.