Language and its Core: Ethical and Religious Subjects in Levinas and Benjamin

Emmanuel Levinas' work on the philosophy of criticism stresses the subject's capacity for ethical interactions over the subject's ability to inspect and analyse the world. Walter Benjamin's work on translation and language places a similar emphasis on the ethical subject. His ess...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Wurgaft, Benjamin Andes (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Oxford University Press 2002
In: Literature and theology
Year: 2002, Volume: 16, Issue: 4, Pages: 377-395
Online Access: Volltext (JSTOR)
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Parallel Edition:Non-electronic
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Summary:Emmanuel Levinas' work on the philosophy of criticism stresses the subject's capacity for ethical interactions over the subject's ability to inspect and analyse the world. Walter Benjamin's work on translation and language places a similar emphasis on the ethical subject. His essay, ‘The Task of the Translator’, considers the analysis employed by poetic criticism to lead to a deep appreciation of the relationship between poet and audience. A proper reading of poetry deepens our feeling for communication. Further, criticism has the power to wake us up to our relationships. The Jewish element of Levinas and Benjamin's thought influences their notions of the ethics driving those relationships. This essay traces Levinas and Benjamin's development of an ethical readership which, while not itself strictly ‘Jewish’, has Jewish origins.
ISSN:1477-4623
Contains:Enthalten in: Literature and theology
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1093/litthe/16.4.377