What Is Ethical Narratology, or What Could It Be?
Keywords:
literature and ethics, literary criticism, ethical turn, postclassical narratology, ethics and morality, ethics and aesthetics, Pahor, BorisAbstract
On the backdrop of the ethical turn in literary studies, it has become customary to reflect upon ethical narratology guided by a conviction that narratological ethics, or the ethics of narrative treatment, is shaped by formal strategies and narrative techniques. This article provides a detailed discussion of three recent contributions in favour of ethical narratology; however, each of the three authors – Tilmann Köppe, Nora Berning and Wolfgang G. Müller – understands ethical narratology differently. Providing a comparison of their views and an analysis of a selected passage, the present discussion seeks to identify the productive blueprints for a potential postclassical ethical narratology on the basis of the relationship between ethics and aesthetics, as well as the distinction between ethics and morality. By taking into account Alain Badiou’s postmodern ethical theory, the article thus aims to show, in accordance with the findings of the classical theory of narrative and with a selection of adequate instruments, the heuristics of exploring the complex ethical dimensions of narratives in order to sensitise the reader to the ethical components of the narrative.References
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