Fictions of Infinity: Levinasian Ethics in 21st-Century Novels (Buchreihe Der Anglia / Anglia, 71)

This study traces the connection of infinity and Levinasian ethics in 21st-century fiction. It tackles the paradox of how infinity can be (re-)presented in the finite space between the covers of a book and finds an answer that combines conceptual metaphor theory with concepts from classical narratology and beyond, such as mise en abyme, textual circularity, intertextuality or omniscient narration. It argues that texts with such structures may be conceptualised as infinite via Lakoff and Núñez’s Basic Metaphor of Infinity. The catachrestic transfer of infinity from structure to text means that the texts themselves are understood to be infinite. Taking its cue from the central role of the infinite in Emmanuel Levinas’s ethics, the function of such ‘fictions of infinity’ turns out to be ethical: infinite textuality disrupts reading patterns and calls into question the reader’s spontaneity to interpret. This hypothesis is put to the test in detailed readings of four 21st-century novels, David Mitchell’s __Cloud Atlas__, Jeanette Winterson’s __The Stone Gods__, Ian McEwan’s __Saturday__ and John Banville’s __The Infinities__. This book thus combines ethical criticism with structural aesthetics to uncover ethical potential in fiction. Winner of the Doctoral Dissertation Award for Literary Studies 2021 of the German Association for the Study of English. Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations Contents 1. Introduction: Towards Infinity 2. Narrative Infinity: Aesthetics and Conceptualisation 3. Levinas and the Ethical Aporia of Infinity 4. Infinitely Encountering the Ineffable: David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas 5. Infinitely Repeating: Jeanette Winterson’s The Stone Gods 6. Infinite Intertextuality: Encountering Alterity in Ian McEwan’s Saturday 7. Infinite Perspective: John Banville’s The Infinities 8. Coda: And Beyond? Works Cited Index The Anglia Book Series (ANGB) offers a selection of high quality work on all areas and aspects of English philology. It publishes book-length studies and essay collections on English language and linguistics, on English and American literature and culture from the Middle Ages to the present, on the new English literatures, as well as on general and comparative literary studies, including aspects of cultural and literary theory.