This is a work in comparative literature and philosophy that offers a new and important way of thinking the ethical capacity of human subjectivity. "Witnessness" posits a universal ethics based neither on rational mental structures nor on moral principles, but on the extra-rational powers of the imagination. Harvey pursues this ethics by staging a speculative reading of Samuel Beckett's 'untranslatable' text, "Worstward Ho", alongside Dante's "Purgatorio" and Primo Levi's "The Drowned and the Saved" and "If This Be a Man". Many of the thirty concise chapters that compose "Witnessness" are built upon notions whose names (e.g. dimness, lessness) take inspiration from Beckett's unique and precise vocabulary. Harvey explores the particular experience of the witness - as recounted in Dante and Levi - for signs of a general, common, and innate witness-like attitude that protects the other and that we see expressed in Beckett's penultimate prose piece.
Les mer
A work in comparative literature and philosophy that offers a fresh and important way of thinking the ethical capacity of human subjectivity. It posits a universal ethics based neither on rational mental structures nor on moral principles, but on the extra-rational powers of the imagination.
Les mer
0.0 Witnessness: The Coordinates; 1.0 ness; 1.1 witness...; 1.2...martyr; 1.3 toccare al fondo; 1.4 error's margin; 1.5 vicariousness; 1.6 talkativeness; 1.7 betweenness; 1.8 afterwit; 2.0 wit; 2.1 now; 2.2 remains; 2.3 nothingness; 2.4 lessness; 2.5 fitness; 2.6 dimness; 2.7 witlessness; 3.0 witnessness; 3.1 readerliness; 3.2 witnesswork in the witnessworks; 3.3 imagination; 3.4 figment; 3.5 telltale; 3.6 empathy; 3.7 model-wit; Thanks, from end to beginning; Bibliography; Index.
Les mer
A wise and passionate book, whose fundamental ambition - to develop an effective universal ethics - is compellingly accomplished. The conviction with which Harvey establishes Samuel Beckett's rightful place at the heart of this undertaking is thrillingly persuasive. Harvey's thinking is as committed as it is attentive, his readings full of care and insight. This is an inspiring achievement.
Les mer
A work in comparative literature and philosophy that offers a new and important way of thinking the ethical capacity of human subjectivity.
Wide-ranging work in comparative literature

Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9781441124241
Publisert
2010-10-21
Utgiver
Vendor
Continuum Publishing Corporation
Høyde
216 mm
Bredde
138 mm
Aldersnivå
P, 06
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Heftet
Antall sider
176

Forfatter

Om bidragsyterne

Robert Harvey is Chair of the Department of Comparative Literary and Cultural Studies and Professor of French and Comparative Literatures at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, USA. He is the author or editor of fifteen books and is one of the very few US academics to have held the position of Directeur de Programme at the College International de Philosophie, Paris, France, founded by Jacques Derrida et al.