Other Others: Levinas, Literature, Transcultural StudiesIn literary and cultural studies today, the term "the Other" appears to have largely lost its moorings in the primacy of the intersubjective encounter, focusing rather on the social construction of the Other. For Emmanuel Levinas, in contrast, the Other is precisely that which eludes construction and categorization. In a study that ranges from literature of ancient China, Greece, and Israel to modern Egypt, Italy, West Africa, and America, Steven Shankman tests Levinas's ideas by reading literary works from outside the Judeo-Christian orbit for figurations equivalent to Levinas's notion of the Other. He also places ethics at the center of intercultural—or, in his words, "transcultural"—comparative literature. In contemporary literary and cultural studies, it is often assumed that culture has the last word. However, as Levinas insists—and as Shankman argues throughout this book—it is ethics that is the "presupposition of all Culture," that is situated "before Culture." |
Contents
Rembrandts The Sacrifi ce of IsaacAbrahams Suspended Knifeand the Face of the Other | 1 |
Primo Levis Canto of Ulysses and Inferno 26 | 23 |
Il milione of Marco Polo and Calvinos Lecittà invisibili | 37 |
Ethical Moments in Sima Qians Records of the Historian | 57 |
Euripides Hölderlin Celan | 75 |
5 The Saying the Said and the Betrayal of Mercy in Shakespeares Merchant of Venice | 93 |
6 Nom de Dieu quelle raceThe Saying the Said and the Betrayal of Charity in Mongo Betis Le pauvre Christ de Bomba | 107 |