Literature and Theology Advance Access originally published online on April 27, 2009
Literature and Theology 2009 23(2):192-206; doi:10.1093/litthe/frp019
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Equanimity: Les Murray, Lévinas and the Breath of God
Selwyn College, University of Cambridge
idc22{at}cam.ac.uk
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This article provides a close reading of Les Murray's poem Equanimity in the context of Emmanuel Lévinas ethical thought. It argues that Murray's poem can be located in relation to Paul Celan's concept of the turn of breath, a hermeneutics of voice and address that points to Lévinas' understanding of the face of the other. Equanimity both works out a conception of encounter with the other that has strong parallels in Lévinas (particularly concerning the themes of speaking and seeing), and seeks to move beyond an ethics based in difference by incorporating speech and vision into a theology of grace.