What's In a Name?

Names don't belong. Not to the person bearing what is called a proper name nor to themselves. They cannot be identified as words. Names are, strictly speaking, not part of any language. Their linguistic state, in and between languages, remains vague, questionable, open. The seminar will follow discussions of names in (among others) Shakespeare and Joyce; Plato (Kratylos); Homer, Vico and Nietzsche; Goethe, Lenz and Egger; including closer looks at three baptismal scenes, in Laurence Sterne (The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy), Herman Melville (Moby-Dick; or, The Whale), and Oscar Wilde (The Importance of Being Earnest).