Returning Home versus Movement without Returna Levinasian Reading of John Banville's The Sea

  1. Cerezo Moreno, Marta
Revista:
Atlantis: Revista de la Asociación Española de Estudios Anglo-Norteamericanos

ISSN: 0210-6124

Año de publicación: 2015

Volumen: 37

Número: 1

Páginas: 51-68

Tipo: Artículo

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Otras publicaciones en: Atlantis: Revista de la Asociación Española de Estudios Anglo-Norteamericanos

Resumen

Partiendo de la oposición que establece Emmanuel Levinas entre la vuelta a la consciencia como regreso al hogar y la teoría de la huella del otro como movimiento hacia la alteridad o movimiento sin retorno, este artículo analiza el modo en que la configuración narrativa de El mar (2005) de John Banville presenta una dialéctica interna entre dos movimientos opuestos, uno interno y otro externo. Basándome en la percepción por parte de Levinas de la totalidad como la reducción que el Mismo hace del Otro, realizaré un análisis de los protagonistas, Max y su esposa Anna, considerando la vuelta a casa de Max como un viaje totalizador que ensalza su propia individualidad en tanto que las fotografías que Anna, enferma terminal de cáncer de estómago, realiza de los pacientes que la acompañan durante su estancia en el hospital representan la conceptualización levinasiana de la responsabilidad infinita que el Mismo tiene hacia el Otro. Mediante la confluencia de las teorías de la huella del otro de Levinas, el inconsciente óptico de Walter Benjamin y el concepto fotográfico del punctum de Roland Barthes, mostraré cómo las imágenes tomadas por Anna destacan la necesidad de nuevas narrativas sociales de carácter ético que alienten aspectos de integración social y de igualdad en términos de discapacidad y desmantelen la percepción del concepto normalidad como un elemento restrictivo y, en términos levinasianos, ontológico.

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Fuente de los datos: Dialnet