The Language of Ethical Encounter: Levinas, Otherness, and Contemporary Poetry

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dc.contributor.authorSchwartz, Melissa Rachelen
dc.contributor.committeechairGardner, Thomas M.en
dc.contributor.committeememberKalyan, Rohanen
dc.contributor.committeememberPrecoda, Karl R.en
dc.contributor.committeememberCook, Samuel R.en
dc.contributor.departmentPolitical Scienceen
dc.date.accessioned2017-07-19T08:02:23Zen
dc.date.available2017-07-19T08:02:23Zen
dc.date.issued2017-07-18en
dc.description.abstractAccording to philosopher, Emmanuel Levinas, alterity can exist only in its infinite and fluid nature in which the aspects of it that exceed the human ability to fully understand it remain unthematized in language. Levinas sees the encounter between self and other as the moment that instigates ethical responsibility, a moment so vital to avoiding mastering what is external to oneself that it should replace Western philosophy’s traditional emphasis on being as philosophy’s basis, or “First Philosophy.” Levinas’s conceptualization of language as a fluid, non-mastering saying, which one must continually re-enliven against a congealing and mastering said, is at the heart of his ethical project of relating to the other of alterity with ethical responsibility, or proximity. The imaginative poetic language that some contemporary poetry enacts, resonates with Levinas’s ethical motivations and methods for responding to alterity. The following project investigates facets of this question in relation to Levinas: how do the contemporary poets Peter Blue Cloud, Jorie Graham, Joy Harjo, and Robert Hass use poetic language uniquely to engage with alterity in an ethical way, thus allowing it to retain its mystery and infinite nature? I argue that by keeping language alive in a way similar to a Levinasian saying, which avoids mastering otherness by attending to its uniqueness and imaginatively engaging with it, they enact an ethical response to alterity. As a way of unpacking these ideas, this inquiry will investigate the compelling, if unsettled, convergence in the work of Levinas and that of Blue Cloud, Graham, Harjo, and Hass by unfolding a number of Levinasian-informed close readings of major poems by these writers as foregrounding various forms of Levinasian saying.en
dc.description.degreePh. D.en
dc.format.mediumETDen
dc.identifier.othervt_gsexam:12511en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/78359en
dc.publisherVirginia Techen
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subjectalterityen
dc.subjectcontemporary poetryen
dc.subjectEmmanuel Levinasen
dc.subjectPeter Blue Clouden
dc.subjectJorie Grahamen
dc.subjectJoy Harjoen
dc.subjectRobert Hassen
dc.subjectethical encounteren
dc.subjectre-enlivening languageen
dc.subjectsayingen
dc.subjectsaiden
dc.subject"First Philosophy"en
dc.subjectIndigeneityen
dc.subjectvoiceen
dc.subjectmusicen
dc.titleThe Language of Ethical Encounter: Levinas, Otherness, and Contemporary Poetryen
dc.typeDissertationen
thesis.degree.disciplineSocial, Political, Ethical, and Cultural Thoughten
thesis.degree.grantorVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State Universityen
thesis.degree.leveldoctoralen
thesis.degree.namePh. D.en

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