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Continuity and rupture: Levinas's temporal ethics and Gideon Koppel'ssleep furiously

Harries, Rhiannon

Authors



Abstract

This paper considers the work of Emmanuel Levinas alongside Gideon Koppel's film sleep furiously to explore the significance of temporality for the ethical potential of documentary film. Though comparatively little attention has been devoted to Levinas's conception of time as intersubjective, I argue that it is vital not only to Levinas's broader model of subjectivity, to the ethical relation and the place of the aesthetic in his thought, but also to new ways of thinking about filmic temporalities. I propose that the creation of an intersubjective temporality and an encounter between spectator and filmic subject that accommodates ungraspable alterity becomes all the more significant in view of documentary's ‘truth claim’ and its charged relation to knowledge, questioning the limits of contemporary definitions of documentary. Through a consideration of sleep furiously I also emphasise how such a temporality may reposition discourse around documentary, shifting the focus away from pastness and memorialisation towards the futural and the unanticipated that form the intersection of the ethical with the political.

Citation

Harries, R. (2015). Continuity and rupture: Levinas's temporal ethics and Gideon Koppel'ssleep furiously. New Review of Film and Television Studies, 13(2), 189-210. https://doi.org/10.1080/17400309.2015.1004962

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jul 1, 2014
Online Publication Date Feb 10, 2015
Publication Date Apr 3, 2015
Deposit Date Oct 2, 2020
Journal New Review of Film and Television Studies
Print ISSN 1740-0309
Electronic ISSN 1740-7923
Publisher Routledge
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 13
Issue 2
Pages 189-210
DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/17400309.2015.1004962
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1488822
Publisher URL https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17400309.2015.1004962
Additional Information Peer Review Statement: The publishing and review policy for this title is described in its Aims & Scope.; Aim & Scope: http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?show=aimsScope&journalCode=rfts20