Already Responsible
In this essay I want to explicate the intuition that literature demands an ethical response that not only precedes interpretation but also serves as its basis. I am not arguing that the response to texts should be ethical, but simply that it is ethical before it is interpretive. The interpretive position adopted by critics of literature is determined not by the "interpretive community" to which they belong, nor by their "a priori" biases and ideological perspective, but by the responsibility they assume toward the text. The community to which a critic belongs and the biases and perspective that give shape to her interpretation are themselves determined by the critic's responsibilities. How we respond to others establishes our commitment to them. The response to a literary text is a pledge and critics bind themselves to a view of it by what they take themselves to be responsible for.
Perhaps the best account of responsibility is that of Emmanuel Levinas.......
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Approximate Word Count: 4386
Approximate Pages: 17 (260 words per double-spaced page) |