Abstract and evocative, writing in what can only be described as the language of prophecy, Emmanuel Levinas has become everything to everyone. We pretend we get it, writing in much the same style, so as to say whatever we wanted to say in the first place. The Levinas Effect it has been called, the ability of Levinas' texts to say anything the reader wants to hear, so that Levinas becomes a deconstructionist, theologian, proto-feminist, or even a reconciler of postmodern ethics and rabbinical Judaism.
In this rich and important study Alford explores the work and ethics of French philosopher Emmanuel Levinas in the context of both psychoanalytic thought and the thought of Sartre, Iris Murdoch, Adorno and the wider Frankfurt School.
