About the book
This book explores the relationship between literature and ethics, showing how literature and art work to open up a part of ethics that resists traditional philosophy. Focusing on three American Romantic texts—Wieland, \"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,\" and The Marble Faun—Robert Hughes demonstrates how each dramatizes the ethical, psychological, and existential imperative to put the experience of our own traumatic limits (death, mortality, and being) into poetic language. To develop the theoretical stakes of these literary readings, Hughes also draws on four twentieth-century continental thinkers—Jacques Lacan, Martin Heidegger, Emmanuel Levinas, and Alain Badiou—each of whom, in his own way, proposed aesthetics or art as an approach to this dimension of ethics. The book also points to an overlooked common lineage, descending from German Romanticism, between American Romanticism and contemporary post-Romantic continental thought: a shared supposition about the limits of reason as a mode of presenting the essence of art and ethics, and a shared faith in the promise of literature to speak to, or open up, this subjective space of foundational ethics
Editions of Ethics, Aesthetics, and the Beyond of Language
- Hardcover
- ISBN 9781438431932
- Paperback
- ISBN 9781438431949
- PDF
- ISBN 9781438431956
Read an Excerpt
This book explores the relationship between literature and ethics, showing how literature and art work to open up a part of ethics that resists traditional philosophy. Focusing on three American Romantic texts—Wieland, \"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,\" and The Marble Faun—Robert Hughes demonstrates how each dramatizes the ethical, psychological, and existential imperative to put the experience of our own traumatic limits (death, mortality, and being) into poetic language. To develop the theoretical stakes of these literary readings, Hughes also draws on four twentieth-century continental thinkers—Jacques Lacan, Martin Heidegger, Emmanuel Levinas, and Alain Badiou—each of whom, in his own way, proposed aesthetics or art as an approach to this dimension of ethics. The book also points to an overlooked common lineage, descending from German Romanticism, between American Romanticism and contemporary post-Romantic continental thought: a shared supposition about the limits of reason as a mode of presenting the essence of art and ethics, and a shared faith in the promise of literature to speak to, or open up, this subjective space of foundational ethics
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Ethics, Aesthetics, and the Beyond of Language about?
This book explores the relationship between literature and ethics, showing how literature and art work to open up a part of ethics that resists traditional philosophy. Focusing on three American Romantic texts—Wieland, \"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,\" and The Marble Faun—Robert Hughes demonstrates how each dramatizes the ethical, psychological, and existential imperative to put the experience of our own traumatic limits (death, mortality, and being) into poetic language. To develop the theoretical stakes of these literary readings, Hughes also draws on four twentieth-century continental thinkers—Jacques Lacan, Martin Heidegger, Emmanuel Levinas, and Alain Badiou—each of whom, in his own way, proposed aesthetics or art as an approach to this dimension of ethics. The book also points to an overlooked common lineage, descending from German Romanticism, between American Romanticism and contemporary post-Romantic continental thought: a shared supposition about the limits of reason as a mode of presenting the essence of art and ethics, and a shared faith in the promise of literature to speak to, or open up, this subjective space of foundational ethics
What core themes, tropes, or subjects are explored in Ethics, Aesthetics, and the Beyond of Language?
Biography, Literature and Literary studies > Literature: history and criticism
Where can I read a sample of Ethics, Aesthetics, and the Beyond of Language?
You can read an official preview of the few pages here https://www.book2look.com/book/9781438431932
How long is Ethics, Aesthetics, and the Beyond of Language and how many pages does it have?
Ethics, Aesthetics, and the Beyond of Language has 243 page(s)
Is Ethics, Aesthetics, and the Beyond of Language part of a series, and can it be read as a standalone?
Yes it is a part of series SUNY series, Insinuations: Philosophy, Psychoanalysis, Literature
Who is/are the Author/s of the book Ethics, Aesthetics, and the Beyond of Language?
Robert Hughes
What are the ISBN numbers for the physical and digital editions?
Ethics, Aesthetics, and the Beyond of Language is available as hardcover(ISBN 9781438431932) and paperback(ISBN 9781438431949) and pdf(ISBN 9781438431956)
Where can I buy Ethics, Aesthetics, and the Beyond of Language online or support local independent bookshops?
You can buy Ethics, Aesthetics, and the Beyond of Language from below
Where can I buy Ethics, Aesthetics, and the Beyond of Language?