JOURNAL ARTICLE

"Let me look again": The Moral Philosophy and Literature Debate at 40.

  • Published In: New Literary History, 2024, v. 55, n. 1. P. 21 1 of 3

  • Database: Academic Search Ultimate 2 of 3

  • Authored By: Murphy, Ruth 3 of 3

Abstract

This article explores the relationship between ethics and literature, particularly as it has been conceived in academic debates since the early 1980s. It offers a reconciliation of the dichotomy between literature and moral philosophy through the concept of bifocality : writing that responds to the moral demands of a lived reality in both a philosophical and literary way. I suggest that bifocal writing is often found in works of testimony. Primo Levi's 1986 work The Drowned and the Saved , a collection of essays on the significance of the Holocaust, is then presented as an arch example. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Additional Information

  • Source:New Literary History. 2024/01, Vol. 55, Issue 1, p21
  • Document Type:Article
  • Subject Area:Literature and Writing
  • Publication Date:2024
  • ISSN:0028-6087
  • DOI:10.1353/nlh.2024.a932369
  • Accession Number:178479021
  • Copyright Statement:Copyright of New Literary History is the property of Johns Hopkins University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

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