Newcastle University

Background

I hold a degree and PhD in philosophy, and previously worked at Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Hertfordshire.

Roles and Responsibilities

I am the Degree Programme Director for Philosophical Studies, and am also the Chair of Board of Examiners and Admissions Officer.

Memberships

I am currently Secretary of the British Society for Phenomenology, and a member of the International Association of Philosophy and Literature, the Society for European Philosophy and the Forum for European Philosophy.

Honours and Awards

In 2009, I won the School teaching award. I have also received funding as a Research Associate of the Forum for European Philosophy, running a series of Ethical Discussions aimed at members of the public.

Research Interests

My main research interests lie in the area of philosophical aesthetics, particularly as it explores the relationship between philosophy, literature and the arts. My work in this area is influenced by Blanchot, on whose thought I have written two monographs and several articles.

Other Expertise

My other areas of expertise include: existentialism (especially Kierkegaard), phenomenology (especially Heidegger and Levinas) and poststructuralism. I also have a strong interest in Bataille and the French surrealist and post-surrealist artistic avant-garde, as well as aspects of the philosophy of music.

Current Work

I have been exploring topics in the philosophy of religion, including: 1) Messianism in twentieth century philosophical thought, with special reference to the work of Scholem, Rosenzweig and Levinas; 2) Kierkegaard's political and social writings, considered in relation to post-phenomenological philosophy and politics; and 3) Blanchot's relationship to Judaism.

I have also been working in the area of aesthetics on the following projects: 1) music and consciousness, drawing on phenomenological research into listening (in collaboration with members of staff in ICMUS); 2) notions of materiality in art, with special reference to improvisational practice (in collaboration with staff involved in Culture Lab); and 3) notions of temporality in music, drawing on the early work of Levinas on rhythm and the image.

Future Research

My future research will continue to: 1) explore the ethical and political implications of philosophical messianism; 2) investigate the relationship between philosophy and literature, drawing on Blanchot; and 3) draw philosophy, art and music into dialogue on topics such as consciousness, creativity and improvisation.

Postgraduate Supervision

Adam Potts, PhD, Japanese noise music, jointly with ICMUS, 2011-

Christos Worsley, MPhil, Heidegger and the artwork, 2009-

Will Scrimshaw, PhD, Deleuze, Individuation and Sound Art, 2007-2011. Passed, no corrections.

Stephen Overy, Lyotard and Libidinal Economy, PhD, Philosophical Studies, 2007-

Yaron Golan, Authenticity and Music, MA, jointly with ICMUS, 2007-2009. Passed, no corrections.

Adam Potts, Noise and Music, MA, jointly with ICMUS 2007-2009, Passed, no corrections. 

Esteem Indicators

In 2008, I delivered a keynote presentation at the National College of Art and Design, Dublin, and visited Vanderbilt University as an invited speaker for their postgraduate research seminar. In recent years, I have given invited presentations at annual conferences of the International Association of Philosophy and Literature (Freiburg) and the Society for European Philosophy (Dundee, Reading). I also gave a keynote presentation at the Transcendence and Tradition 2005 conference at the University of Dundee.

More recently, an essay of mine was featured as part of the exhibition, La comunitat inconfessable at the Biennale di Venzia in 2009.

My work has been translated into several languages, including Albanian, Catalan, Croatian, French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese.

I referee books and articles for Northwestern University Press, Edinburgh University Press and for Palgrave Macmillan, and review books for the Journal for the British Society for Phenomenology, the Journal for Cultural Research, and the Journal for Cultural and Religious Theory. I am a member of the Editorial Collective for Radical Musicology.

I am currently external examiner at the University College Plymouth Saint Mark and Saint John, and have served as an external examiner (PhD) at Goldsmiths College, University of London.

Undergraduate Teaching

I currently teach the following modules: PHI1005 The World and I: Sources of the Self, PHI2005 Consciousness, Art and Technology and PHI3003 Modern Philosophy II: Language and Thought, as well as contributing to Project teaching in all three years.

• Iyer L. Dogma. New York: Melville House, 2012.
• Iyer L. Exodus. New York: Melville House, 2012.
• Iyer L. Literature After Literature. Post Road 2012. In Press.
• Iyer L. Spurious. New York: Melville House Press, 2010.
• Iyer L. Impersonal Speech: Blanchot, Virno, Messianism. Journal for Cultural Research 2009, 13(3 & 4), 281-296.
• Iyer L. Our Responsibility: Blanchot's Communism. In: Roma, V, ed. The Unavowable Community. Barcelona: Actar, 2009.
• Iyer L. The Being of Noise. In: Long D; Thomas R, ed. Noise/Silence. Dublin: Irish Museum of Modern Art/ Dublin Contemporary 2011, 2009, pp. 4-5.
• Iyer L. Speaking the Real: Richard Middleton's Voicing the Popular. Radical Musicology 2008, 3.
• Iyer L. The Fact of Language: Recent Literature on Blanchot. Journal for Cultural Research 2007, 11(3), 265-282.
• Iyer L. There is Language: Speech and Writing in Blanchot. Parallax 2006, 12(2), 83-97.
• Iyer L. Blanchot’s Vigilance: Literature, Phenomenology and the Ethical. Basingstoke:Palgrave Macmillan,2005.
• Iyer L. Logos and Difference Blanchot, Heidegger, Heraclitus . Parallax 2005, 11(2), 14-24.
• Iyer L. Blanchot, Levinas et l’érotique. In: Hoppenot, E., ed. L'Oeuvre du Féminin dans l'écriture de Maurice Blanchot. Paris, France: Éditions complicitiés, 2004, pp. 243-258.
• Iyer L. Blanchot’s Communism: Art, Philosophy and the Political. Basingstoke:Palgrave Macmillan,2004.
• Iyer L. Capitalism and Religion. Journal of Religious and Cultural Theory 2004. ,5 2 115-122.
• Iyer LK. Capitalism and Religion: a review. Journal for Cultural and Religious Theory 2004, 5(2), 115-122.
• Iyer L. Death and responsibility, the 'work' of Levinas. Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology 2003, 34(1), 101-103.
• Iyer L. El templo de la noche. Reflexiones sobre el origen de la obra de arte en Blanchot y en Heidegger. Asociación de Estudios Filosóficos 2003, 17(3), 25-43.
• Iyer L. The Impossibility of Loving. Blanchot, Sexual Difference, Community. The Journal of Cultural Research 2003, 7(3), 227-242.
• Iyer L. The Movement of Testimony: Affliction in Blanchot and Antelme. Journal of Social and Political Thought 2003,2 1 .
• Iyer L. The workless community: Blanchot, communism, surrealism. Paragraph 2003,26 3 51-69.
• Iyer L. Write! Write! Blanchot, Kofman and Levinas on Witnessing. Journal for Cultural and Religious Theory 2003, 5(1), 58-83.
• Iyer L. Blanchot, narration, and the event. Postmodern Culture 2002, 12(3), u25-u48.
• Iyer L. Levinas on Existence. Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology 2002, 33(1), 39-51.
• Iyer L. Literary Communism. Blanchot’s Conversations with Bataille and Levinas. Symposium: Canadian Journal of Continental Philosophy 2002, 6(1), 45-62.
• Iyer L. The City and the Stars. Politics and Alterity in Heidegger, Levinas and Blanchot. Journal for Cultural and Religious Theory 2002, 3(3), 1-15.
• Iyer L. Cave Paintings and Wall Writings. Blanchot’s Signature. Angelaki 2001, 6(3), 31-43.
• Iyer L. Our Responsibility. Blanchot’s Communism. Contretemps, an Online Journal of Philosophy 2001, 2, 59-73.
• Iyer L. The Birth of Philosophy in Poetry. Blanchot, Char, Heraclitus. Janus Head, Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies in Continental Philosophy, Literature, Phenomenological Psychology and the Arts 2001, 4(2), 358-383.
• Iyer L. The Sphinx’s Gaze. Art, Friendship and Philosophical in Blanchot and Levinas’. Southern Journal of Philosophy 2001, 39(2), 189-206.
• Iyer L. Born With the Dead: Blanchot's Mourning. Angelaki: Journal of the Theoretical Humanities 2000, 5(3), 39-50.
• Iyer L. The Paradoxes of Fidelity. Blanchot, Philosophy and Critical Commentary. Symposium, Journal of the Canadian Society for Hermeneutics and Postmodern Thought 2000, 4(2), 189-208.