Deligny, Fernand (1913–1996)

Introduction

Since the past couple of years, the life and works of the French educator Fernand Deligny (1913–1996) increasingly have attracted the attention of artists, professionals, and academic scholars coming from divergent backgrounds. This current interest in Deligny’s work partly seems to be triggered by the 2007 publication of Deligny’s collected works and recently has led, among other things, to the publication of the first volume of texts translated from French into English, namely, The arachnean and other texts. Current interest in Deligny’s work, however, also needs to be framed within contemporary discussions about what it means to be human. Amplified by the societal challenges posed to both European as well as non-European countries in the past few years – one, for example, can think about the ongoing refugee crisis and the rise of ecological concerns – the question, for example, of how we can live together seems to address itself anew. As it becomes more and more...