Category Archives: Alexandre Koyré

Indo-European Thought in Twentieth-Century France update 27: more archive work on Saussure, Blanchot, Foucault, Jakobson and Koyré, two recordings, and a talk at the University at Buffalo

I’ve been doing a lot more work in archives in the United States for this project over the past few weeks. I had a few days up in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which was even colder than New York. There, I was … Continue reading

Posted in Alexandre Koyré, Claude Lévi-Strauss, David Farrell Krell, Emile Benveniste, Ernst Kantorowicz, Ferdinand de Saussure, Georges Dumézil, Hannah Arendt, Mapping Indo-European Thought in Twentieth Century France, Martin Heidegger, Maurice Blanchot, Michel Foucault, Mircea Eliade, Roman Jakobson | 1 Comment

Hannah Arendt, David Farrell Krell and the early English translations of Heidegger

Some years ago, when I was working on Heidegger, I read David Farrell Krell’s “Work Sessions with Martin Heidegger” essay. These were sessions in which Krell discussed some of Heidegger’s vocabulary and worked with him on possible English renderings, as … Continue reading

Posted in Alexandre Koyré, David Farrell Krell, Hannah Arendt, Jacques Derrida, Martin Heidegger, Sunday Histories, Uncategorized | 4 Comments

Alexandre Koyré’s Wartime Teaching at the École Libre des Hautes Études and the New School

In 1940, Alexandre Koyré was persuaded by Charles de Gaulle’s government in exile that he could make his most useful contribution to the French war effort by moving to New York and acting as secretary general of the planned École … Continue reading

Posted in Alexandre Koyré, Hannah Arendt, René Descartes, Roman Jakobson, Sunday Histories, Uncategorized | 5 Comments

Stuart Elden, “Alexandre Koyré and the Collège de France”, History of European Ideas, Vol 51 No 2, 2025, 276-89 (open access)

Stuart Elden, “Alexandre Koyré and the Collège de France“, History of European Ideas, Vol 51 No 2, 276-89, 2025. This has been online first for a while, but has now appeared in an issue. Available open access. This article discusses … Continue reading

Posted in Alexandre Koyré, Jean Hyppolite, Michel Foucault, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

The Friendship between Hannah Arendt and Alexandre Koyré

Although they both studied in Germany, and were among those who attended Heidegger’s lecture courses in the 1920s, Hannah Arendt and Alexandre Koyré didn’t meet at that time. (Arendt attended lectures in 1924-26 in Marburg; Koyré in 1928-29 in Freiburg.) Their first … Continue reading

Posted in Alexandre Koyré, Georges Bataille, Hannah Arendt, Jacques Derrida, Karl Jaspers, Martin Heidegger, Sunday Histories | 6 Comments

Indo-European Thought in Twentieth-Century France update 26: Benveniste’s late publications; Sunday Histories; beginning archival work in the United States

Since the last update in December, I’ve been making some good progress on this project. The focus has mainly been on Benveniste’s work in the 1960s. But, as ever, I’ve found myself backtracking to earlier parts of his career and seeing some potentially … Continue reading

Posted in Alexandre Koyré, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Emile Benveniste, Ernst Kantorowicz, Georges Dumézil, Henri Lefebvre, Mapping Indo-European Thought in Twentieth Century France, Michel Foucault, Roman Jakobson, Sunday Histories, Uncategorized, Understanding Henri Lefebvre | Leave a comment

Vladimir Nabokov, Roman Jakobson, Marc Szeftel and The Song of Igor

Superficially at least, the stories of Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977) and Roman Jakobson (1896-1982) would seem to connect. Both were born in Russia – Nabokov in Saint Petersburg; Jakobson in Moscow; both went into exile after the Revolution – Nabokov in … Continue reading

Posted in Alexandre Koyré, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Georges Dumézil, Jean Gottmann, Roman Jakobson, Sunday Histories, Uncategorized, Vladimir Nabokov | 17 Comments

Indo-European Thought in Twentieth-Century France update 25: Benveniste’s teaching, a talk at St Andrews, Tzvetan Todorov, Roman Jakobson, and some archival work in Paris and Oxford

I’m overdue an update on this project, but while I’ve been working hard, I haven’t felt there has been much to say until now. I’ve also had some further health problems, leading to another shorter stay in hospital and the … Continue reading

Posted in Alexandre Koyré, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Emile Benveniste, Georges Dumézil, Mapping Indo-European Thought in Twentieth Century France, Michel Foucault, Roman Jakobson | 3 Comments

Books received – Dumézil, Koyré, Delaporte, Felsch, Febvre, Meillet

Some second-hand books by dead French men bought recently, and Philipp Felsch’s How Nietzsche Came in From the Cold, translated by Daniel Bowles. The second and third books are translations by Alexandre Koyré, and the top book is a copy … Continue reading

Posted in Alexandre Koyré, Antoine Meillet, François Delaporte, Friedrich Nietzsche, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Indo-European Thought in Twentieth-Century France update 24: Emile Benveniste’s archives of teaching and publishing, the Festschrift, and the Alexandre Koyré side-project

Since the last update in September, I’ve continued working on the chapter of this project which looks at Benveniste and Dumézil’s parallel teaching careers at the Collège de France, through the 1950s and 1960s. This is the planned topic of an online Social … Continue reading

Posted in Alexandre Koyré, Emile Benveniste, Georges Canguilhem, Georges Dumézil, Jean Gottmann, Mapping Indo-European Thought in Twentieth Century France, Travel, Uncategorized | Leave a comment