Decreation and the Ethical Bind

Sook Cha Yoon

Description

In Simone Weil's philosophical and literary work, obligation emerges at the conjuncture of competing claims: the other's self-affirmation and one's own dislocation; what one has and what one has to give; a demand that asks for too much and the extraordinary demand implied by asking nothing. The other's claims upon the self-which induce unfinished obligation, unmet sleep, hunger-drive the tensions that sustain the scene of ethical relationality at the heart of this book.Decreation and the Ethical Bind is a study in decreative ethics in which self-dispossession conditions responsiveness to a demand to preserve the other from harm. In examining themes of obligation, vulnerability, and the force of weak speech that run from Levinas to Butler, the book situates Weil within a continental tradition of literary theory in which writing and speech articulate ethical appeal and the vexations of response. It elaborates a form of ethics that is not grounded in subjective agency and narrative coherence but one that is inscribed at the site of the self's depersonalization.

Sujets

• Ethics in religion
• Literary theory

Informations

• Publié par: Fordham University Press
• Date de parution: 01 juin 2017
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780823275281
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Decreation and the Ethical Bind

Decreation and the Ethical Bind

s i m o n e w e i l a n d t h e c l a i m o f t h e o t h e r

Yoon Sook Cha

f o r d h a m u n i v e r s i t y p r e s s

New York0 1 7 2

this book is made possible by a collaborative grant from the andrew w. mellon foundation.

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Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data available online at http://catalog.loc.gov.

Printed in the United States of America

19181754321

First edition

For my parents, Soon Bun Yoo and Yong Rang Cha, and my daughter, Laila Grace Holmes, who have given me everything

C o n t e n t s

 Note on Abbreviations and Translations Used  Preface  Introduction 1. The Vulnerability of Precious Things:  “La Personne et le sacré”

2. Uncommon Measure: “L’Iliadeou le poème de la force” 3and the Bond of Love:. Stillness Venise sauvée 4. Unfinished Obligation:Venise sauvéeandLa Folie du jour

5Extravagant Demand of Asking Nothing:. The  Destitution and Generosity in “Autobiographie  spirituelle” andLa Connaissance surnaturelle

6. Empty Petitions: The Last Letters of Simone Weil

Acknowledgments Notes Index

ix xi 1

17 40 65 87

103 136

151 153 189

N o t e o n A b b r e v i a t i o n s a n d T r a n s l a t i o n s U s e d

The following abbreviations and translations of frequently cited sources have been used in the text. For consistency, I refer to cited works by their original titles since not all of them have been pub lished in English. Page citations refer to the original, whether or not translations into English are available. The translations into English of works by Simone Weil are my own except forL’Iliadeou le poème de la force, for which I use James P. Holoka’s translation,Simone Weil’s TheIliador the Poem of Force: A Critical Edition, and where otherwise noted.

Works by Simone W eil

AD CO CS CTIII EL

EN

OC

iv/1

vi/1

Attente de Dieu. Paris: Fayard,1966. La Condition ouvrière. Paris: Gallimard,1951. La Connaissance surnaturelle. Paris: Gallimard,1950. Cahiers, Tome III. Paris: Plon,1956. Écrits de Londres et dernières lettres. Paris: Gallimard, 1957. L’Enracinement: Prélude à une déclaration des devoirs envers l’être humain. Paris: Gallimard,1949. Œuvres complètes. Edited by André Devaux and Florence de Lussy. Paris: Gallimard,1988–. Écrits de Marseille: Philosophie, science, religion, questions politiques et sociales (1940–1942). Edited by Robert Chena vier et al.2008. Cahiers (1933septembre1941).Edited by Alyette Degrâces et al.1994.