Border

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Worked through in 2 videos · 6 passages.

What Dominique Pagani says

Dominique Pagani contrasts two conceptions of the border. In his view, the border understood as an abstract line is a modern notion, which he dates to around the century of Descartes1. He sets against it the edges as Nerval conceives them, which he discusses in "Angélique": they are not lines crossed in a single step but spaces, surfaces where one can remain2 3. The limit where three regions meet does not exist in itself, like the gold of the sea, and the border can be a space, a no man's land4. He describes the edge as the passage from one extreme to the other, from the horizontal to the vertical, from the motionless to the fluid, and he sees in it an immanent peril5. In 2022, he takes up this problem of edges again in connection with the war in Ukraine. He recalls that the name Ukraine means border, limit, march, and that the marquis is the one who watches over the borderlands6.

Summary produced automatically from 6 of the passages below, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the moment in the session.

Season 10 · 24 Feb 2022#10 UKRAINE: From the problem of "Edges" to the unleashing of war

34:15Ukraine means border, limit, march; the marquis is the one who keeps watch over the marches.
52:59The border as an abstract line is a modern notion, appearing around the century of Descartes.
55:02In Nerval, borders are not lines but surfaces where one can remain.

Season 4 · 15 Jan 2018#4.4 Angélique (by Nerval)

53:48The point where three regions meet does not exist in itself, like the gold of the sea; a border can be a space, a no man's land.
58:55An edge is a passage from one extreme to another, from horizontal to vertical, from still to fluid: it carries an immanent peril.
1:05:48The abstract border is modern; for Nerval borders are spaces, not lines crossed in a single step.