The space of intimacy: Encountering others in Pan-American literature

Joshua D Hackett, Purdue University

Abstract

In this dissertation, I argue that intimacy is able to emerge in a literary context as an interruption of the representational thinking that too often reduces other people to objects. Through the use of literary examples, I explain the processes by which intimacy is suppressed and the ways in which those processes might be interrupted, creating an intimacy that makes a non-representational, non-objectifying ethics possible. The interdisciplinary nature of this project will allow me to place the theoretical ethical issues found in contemporary French philosophy and apply them to different social contexts through a dialogue with modern literature in the Americas.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Goodhart, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Latin American literature|Literature|Philosophy|American literature

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