Saying and the Interruption of the Said
Ethical Considerations in and on J.M. Coetzee’s The Lives of Animals
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 20156194 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Liselotte Vandenbussche (North-West University, Potchefstroom), Nicholas Meihuizen (0000-0003-1205-800X, North-West University, Potchefstroom, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2017 |
| Volume | 33 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 97-115 |
| Publication date | 2017-07-03 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Literary Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0256-4718 • E-ISSN: 1753-5387 |
| Publisher | Unisa Press (PUBLISHER • ZA) |
| DOI | 10.1080/02564718.2017.1376809 |
| OpenAlex | W2765281135 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 20 |
Using J.M. Coetzee's The Lives of Animals (Coetzee 1999) as a basis, our article compares the straightforward ethical reading of literature as an unproblematic means for creating reader sympathy (as exemplified by the work of Martha Nussbaum), with an approach based on Emmanuel Levinas's sense of otherness. For Levinas, reading involves an awareness of otherness that does not control or circumscribe the other, but that encourages a continual unfolding of its possibilities. In this connection, he distinguishes between the “said”, that which is complete, written down once and for all, and the “saying”, that which can “interrupt” our readerly assumptions by revealing the presence of otherness. The sense of otherness, because so fundamental to our interaction with the world, needs to be respected, our ethical obligation or responsibility towards it acknowledged. We believe The Lives of Animals fosters such a sense of obligation. It both thematises moral concerns and helps enact moral understanding, unlike a straightforward sympathetic approach, which depends on exclusionary opposition at the expense of a more knowing engagement with otherness
Aesthetics · Epistemology · Linguistics · Moral obligation · Obligation · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Sympathy · Ethics, Aesthetics, and Art · Law · Philosophy · Philosophy, Ethics, and Existentialism · Psychology · Social Psychology · Wittgensteinian philosophy and applications
The Singularity of Literature
Giving Offense
Renegotiating Ethics in Literature, Philosophy, and Theory
Totality and Infinity
Eternal Treblinka
J. M. Coetzee
The Case For Animal Rights
An Other Face of Ethics in Levinas
The Lives of Animals
Against Liberation
Why Banning Ethical Criticism is a Serious Mistake
| Citations per year | 0.13 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2018 - 2018 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |