Philosophy and Literature

In Lyric Philosophy, Jan Zwicky presents a way of thinking that challenges the model that currently prevails in academic philosophy. In this essay I deal primarily with one aspect of lyric thought: its relation to time. I examine whether beauty’s relationship to time is like that of lyric thought, for Zwicky tells us that the “experience of beauty is the experience of some form (or other) of relief from time.” She also describes lyric thought as being more spatial than temporal in structure. I question whether the style of timelessness of beauty is like the style of timelessness of lyric thought.