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Ethical Life Redefined in Jonathan Safran Foer’s Eating Animals

Year 2014, Volume: 4 Issue: 1, 231 - 241, 30.06.2014

Abstract

This study analyzes the young American novelist Jonathan Safran Foer’sastounding work of creative nonfiction Eating Animals (2009) from two ethical frameworks. First, Foer demonstrates contemporary American creative nonfiction’s propensity for ethical reflectionand dedication tothe forceful investigation of the disregarded and dismissed aspects of ourdaily moral existence, and demonstrates the sheer amount of research as well as intellectualbearing that such reflection requires. Second, inasmuch as Eating Animals is a study in/of ethics, it also presents new vistas for the recent “ethical turn” in literary studieswhose theoretical focus remains limited to the study of the novel. Through a close reading of Eating Animals for its avowed ethical stance and its enriching contribution in the mode of a transfigured reenactment ofthe current (re)turn to ethics within literary studies, this study bears witness to a new direction in contemporary American literature that draws its force from contemporary creative nonfiction’s increasing proclivity for truthful and ethical storytelling

References

  • Booth, W. (1988). The Company We Keep: An Ethics of Fiction. Los Angeles: University of California Press.
  • Buell, L. (1999). “In Pursuit of Ethics”. PMLA, Spec. Issue Ethics and Literary Study, 114 (1), 7-19. Davis, Todd, & Kenneth Womack. Eds. (2001). Mapping the Ethical Turn: A Reader in Ethics, Culture, and Literary Theory. Charlottesville: The University Press of Virginia.
  • Eskin, M. (2004). “The Double ‘Turn’ to Ethics and Literature?”. Poetics Today, 25 (4), 557-572.
  • Foer, J. S. (2009). Eating Animals. London: Penguin.
  • Geddes, J. (2007). “Attending to suffering in/at the Wake of Postmodernism”. Eds. Neil Brooks, & Josh Toth. The Mourning After: Attending the Wake of Postmodernism, 65-79. Amsterdam: Rodopi.
  • Hale, D. J. (2007). “Fiction as Restriction: Self-Binding in New Ethical Theories of the Novel”. Narrative, 15 (2), 187-206.
  • Harpham, G. G. (1995).“Ethics”. Eds. Frank Lentricchia, &Robert McLaughlin. Critical Terms for Literary Study: 387-405. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Marjorie, G., Hanssen, B., & Walkowitz, R. L. Eds. (2000). The Turn to Ethics. New York: Routledge.
  • Nussbaum, M. C. (1990). Love’s Knowledge: Essays on Philosophy and Literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Schwarz, D. R. (2001). “A Humanistic Ethics of Reading”. Eds. Todd Davis, & Kenneth Womack. Mapping the ethical Turn: A Reader in Ethics, Culture, And Literary Theory, 3-16. Charlottesville: The University Press of Virginia.
  • Schwarz, D. R. (1997). “Performative Saying and the Ethics of Reading: Adam Zachary Newton’s Narrative Ethics”. Narrative, 5 (2), 188-206.
  • Voloshin, B. R. (1998). “The Ethical Turn in French Philosophy”. Pacific Coast Philology, 33 (1), 69-86.
Year 2014, Volume: 4 Issue: 1, 231 - 241, 30.06.2014

Abstract

References

  • Booth, W. (1988). The Company We Keep: An Ethics of Fiction. Los Angeles: University of California Press.
  • Buell, L. (1999). “In Pursuit of Ethics”. PMLA, Spec. Issue Ethics and Literary Study, 114 (1), 7-19. Davis, Todd, & Kenneth Womack. Eds. (2001). Mapping the Ethical Turn: A Reader in Ethics, Culture, and Literary Theory. Charlottesville: The University Press of Virginia.
  • Eskin, M. (2004). “The Double ‘Turn’ to Ethics and Literature?”. Poetics Today, 25 (4), 557-572.
  • Foer, J. S. (2009). Eating Animals. London: Penguin.
  • Geddes, J. (2007). “Attending to suffering in/at the Wake of Postmodernism”. Eds. Neil Brooks, & Josh Toth. The Mourning After: Attending the Wake of Postmodernism, 65-79. Amsterdam: Rodopi.
  • Hale, D. J. (2007). “Fiction as Restriction: Self-Binding in New Ethical Theories of the Novel”. Narrative, 15 (2), 187-206.
  • Harpham, G. G. (1995).“Ethics”. Eds. Frank Lentricchia, &Robert McLaughlin. Critical Terms for Literary Study: 387-405. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Marjorie, G., Hanssen, B., & Walkowitz, R. L. Eds. (2000). The Turn to Ethics. New York: Routledge.
  • Nussbaum, M. C. (1990). Love’s Knowledge: Essays on Philosophy and Literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Schwarz, D. R. (2001). “A Humanistic Ethics of Reading”. Eds. Todd Davis, & Kenneth Womack. Mapping the ethical Turn: A Reader in Ethics, Culture, And Literary Theory, 3-16. Charlottesville: The University Press of Virginia.
  • Schwarz, D. R. (1997). “Performative Saying and the Ethics of Reading: Adam Zachary Newton’s Narrative Ethics”. Narrative, 5 (2), 188-206.
  • Voloshin, B. R. (1998). “The Ethical Turn in French Philosophy”. Pacific Coast Philology, 33 (1), 69-86.
There are 11 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language Turkish
Subjects North American Language, Literature and Culture
Journal Section Araştırma Makaleleri
Authors

İsil Ozcan

Publication Date June 30, 2014
Published in Issue Year 2014 Volume: 4 Issue: 1

Cite

APA Ozcan, İ. (2014). Ethical Life Redefined in Jonathan Safran Foer’s Eating Animals. Akdeniz İnsani Bilimler Dergisi, 4(1), 231-241.
Adres:
Akdeniz İnsani Bilimler Dergisi
Akdeniz Üniversitesi, Edebiyat Fakültesi
07058 Kampüs, Antalya / TÜRKİYE
E-Posta:
mjh@akdeniz.edu.tr