Unbearable Heartbeat

Conversations about ethics and politics are of paramountimportance to the present conjuncture. In this work,Ricky Vargheseattempts a close reading of certain key literarytexts by Franco-Czech novelist Milan Kundera wherein one might seethe ways inwhich the novelist has attempted a discussion abouthow thesubjects of self and other are founded on thepossibility of/forethics within an intimate cosmopolitical space. Thework gesturestoward a move from and beyond universal conversationsaboutcosmopolitanism to a more nuanced reading of thecosmopoliticalspace as one being founded on ethics and intimateencountersbetween self and other. Bringing togetherpsychoanalytic theory as itpertains to embodiment, literary criticism in hisreadings ofKundera's texts, and the ethical philosophy ofJacques Derrida andEmmanuel Levinas, Ricky Varghese attempts to think aboutcosmopolitanism differently, as the locus point whereintimacy,ethics, and justice can be initiated into theconversation between selfand other, as subjects that are mutually constituted.

Autorentext

Ricky Varghese is a doctoral student at the University of Toronto. His research brings together the fields of psychoanalytic theory, literary criticism, and continental philosophy, particularly dealing with questions of ethics and its relation to subjectivity. He is presently completing a dissertation on shame, melancholy, and embodiment.