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Document Details : Title: Het gelaat van Levinas en het scheermes van Lamarque Subtitle: Over filosofie en literatuur, ethiek en waarheid Author(s): DE BRUYN, Ben Journal: Spiegel der Letteren Volume: 52 Issue: 2 Date: 2010 Pages: 203-216 DOI: 10.2143/SDL.52.2.2049207 Abstract : This essay compares two recent books on literature written by philosophers. Sprekende werken, the Festschrift for Jacques de Visscher, discusses individual texts (and other artworks) with the help of ideas derived from Heidegger, Derrida and Levinas. However, the book does not offer an explicit and satisfying treatment of the broader issues referred to in the title and introduction, namely the nature of philosophical approaches to literature, the distinct characteristics of literature, and the ethical and cognitive aspects of literary reading. Peter Lamarque’s Philosophy of Literature offers a lucid overview of the way analytic aesthetics treats various conceptual puzzles related to literary practice. That leads to fruitful methodological suggestions for literary theory as well as a more satisfying treatment of the ethical and cognitive dimensions of literature, even though Lamarque’s institutional approach also leads to certain problems. |
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