Decreation and the Ethical Bind : Simone Weil and the Claim of the Other

__Decreation and the Ethical Bind__ identifies a decreative ethics, whereby self-dispossession underwrites an ethical obligation to preserve the other from harm. The author shows how obligation emerges at the conjuncture of competing claims: between the other’s subject affirmation and one’s own dislocation, between what one has and what one has to give, between a demand that asks for too much and the extraordinary demand of asking nothing. In the unfolding and reiteration of themes issuing from the other’s claim upon oneself develops a complex picture of the tensions that sustain the scene of ethical relationality. Just how these tensions both subtend and undercut an other-centered ethics of preservation is the question this book tarries with. By proposing a way to read the distinct ethical charge of the other’s claim not to be harmed, __Decreation and the Ethical Bind__ offers a novel treatment of the concept of decreation in the thought of Simone Weil, putting her work in dialogue with Emmanuel Levinas, Maurice Blanchot and Judith Butler. In examining themes of ethical obligation, vulnerability and the force of weak speech, the present study places Weil within a continental tradition of literary theory in which writing and speech are bound up with questions of ethical appeal. It contributes a new and critical voice to the current conversation in theory and criticism that addresses a difficult form of ethics that isn’t grounded in subjective agency and narrative fruition, but in the risks taken to fulfill the claims it makes. Decreation And The Ethical Bind Is A Study In Decreative Ethics In Which Self-dispossession Conditions Responsiveness To A Demand To Preserve The Other From Harm. In Examining Themes Of Obligation, Vulnerability, And The Force Of Weak Speech That Run From Levinas To Butler, The Book Situates Weil Within A Continental Tradition Of Literary Theory In Which Writing And Speech Articulate Ethical Appeal And The Vexations Of Response. It Elaborates A Form Of Ethics That Is Not Grounded In Subjective Agency And Narrative Coherence But One That Is Inscribed At The Site Of The Self's Depersonalization.-- Machine Generated Contents Note: 1. The Vulnerability Of Precious Things: La Personne Et Le Sacre -- 2. Uncommon Measure: L'iliade Ou Le Poeme De La Force -- 3. Stillness And The Bond Of Love: Venise Sauvee -- 4. Unfinished Obligation: Venise Sauvee And La Folie Du Jour -- 5. The Extravagant Demand Of Asking Nothing: Destitution And Generosity In Autobiographie Spirituelle And La Connaissance Surnaturelle -- 6. Empty Petitions: The Last Letters Of Simone Weil. Yoon Sook Cha. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 153-188) And Index. In Simone Weil's philosophical and literary work, obligation emerges at the conjuncture of competing claims: the other's self-affirmation and one's own dislocation; what one has and what one has to give; a demand that asks for too much and the extraordinary demand implied by asking nothing. The other's claims upon the self--which induce unfinished obligation, unmet sleep, hunger--drive the tensions that sustain the scene of ethical relationality at the heart of this book. Decreation and the Ethical Bind is a study in decreative ethics in which self-dispossession conditions responsiveness to a demand to preserve the other from harm. In examining themes of obligation, vulnerability, and the force of weak speech that run from Levinas to Butler, the book situates Weil within a continental tradition of literary theory in which writing and speech articulate ethical appeal and the vexations of response. It elaborates a form of ethics that is not grounded in subjective agency and narrative coherence but one that is inscribed at the site of the self's depersonalization "Decreation and the Ethical Bind is a study in decreative ethics in which self-dispossession conditions responsiveness to a demand to preserve the other from harm. In examining themes of obligation, vulnerability, and the force of weak speech that run from Levinas to Butler, the book situates Weil within a continental tradition of literary theory in which writing and speech articulate ethical appeal and the vexations of response. It elaborates a form of ethics that is not grounded in subjective agency and narrative coherence but one that is inscribed at the site of the self's depersonalization."-- Publisher's website A close reading of Simone Weil’s philosophical and literary writings examining themes of ethical obligation, dispossession and vulnerability in relation to the works of Emmanuel Levinas, Maurice Blanchot and Judith Butler.