Katia Hay

In my paper I would like to analyse the different ways in which the problem of 'repetition' has been thematized in films and in philosophy. Some of the questions I would like to raise in this context include: To what extent is repetition (of the same) possible, i.e. to what extent is it even real? Can we really experience the same more than once? What is the role of our memory in this? And most importantly: is repetition something we desire, something desirable or something we fear? What is the relation between our desires and the idea of repetition and how does this relate to our experience of the world, and most importantly our experience of time?

In order to address these questions (in 20 min) I will focus on some passages from Schelling, Kierkegaard, Freud, Nietzsche and Deleuze and scenes from »Memento« (Nolan 2000), »Groundhog Day« (Ramis 1993), »The Shining« (Kubrick 1980) and »L ’ ann ée dernière à Marienbad« (Resnais 1961, script by Allain Robbe-Grillet). I will also use the analysis of the latter in relation to another text by Allain Robbe-Grillet – »La Reprise« – in order to introduce the distinction between what could be seen as the sterility of 'repetition' tout court and the (fruitful) process of resuming, re-writing, re-narrating and re-understanding.

Katia Hay, born 1981, studied philosophy and literature in Madrid (Complutense), Munich (LMU), Paris (Sorbonne Paris-IV) and London (Open University). She obtained a DEA in Histoire de la Philosophie in Paris on »Deleuze, time and dance« in 2004. In 2008 she obtained a double PhD (cotutelle between Munich and Paris) in philosophy on »Schelling and the tragic«. Since then she has worked mostly on Nietzsche, humour, laughter and language with a 6-year FCT research grant at the University of Lisbon. Katia Hay has taught philosophy at university level in Lisbon, Freiburg, New York, Santiago de Chile and Leiden. Since January 2016 she is a post-doc researcher at Leiden University, at the Centre for Arts in Society (LUCAS) with the topic: »The Power of Images: Rethinking Censorship in the Global Media«.

She is author of »Die Notwendigkeit des Scheiterns. Das Tragische als Bestimmung der Philosophie bei Schelling« (Alber-Verlag: Beiträge zur Schelling-Forschung 2, 2012 ) and has published many articles on Schelling and Nietzsche. She has recently edited a volume by De Gruyter on »Nietzsche, German Idealism and its Critics«.