The Reprieve: Weak Messianism and the Event in Primo Levi’s Moments of Reprieve
In this article, I analyse Primo Levi’s work on Auschwitz, in particular his Moments of Reprieve. Against the overdetermined inhuman economy of the camp, I find that ‘the reprieve’ is what philosopher John D. Caputo has described as an Event, a stirring prompted by a call from alterity. Because it d...
| Autor principal: | |
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| Tipo de documento: | Electrónico Artículo |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
| Verificar disponibilidad: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Gargar...
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| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Publicado: |
2011
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| En: |
Literature and theology
Año: 2011, Volumen: 25, Número: 2, Páginas: 172-184 |
| Acceso en línea: |
Volltext (JSTOR) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Sumario: | In this article, I analyse Primo Levi’s work on Auschwitz, in particular his Moments of Reprieve. Against the overdetermined inhuman economy of the camp, I find that ‘the reprieve’ is what philosopher John D. Caputo has described as an Event, a stirring prompted by a call from alterity. Because it does not redeem or provide salvation, the reprieve is a weak form of messianism, suspending but not cancelling the camp. Because every other Other remains ultimately incomprehensible, I argue that even in the most repressive of the circumstances there remains the possibility of the reprieve. |
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| ISSN: | 1477-4623 |
| Obras secundarias: | Enthalten in: Literature and theology
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1093/litthe/frq044 |