What the Snorgh Taught me about Emmanuel Levinas

Date
2012-05
Authors
Buckingham, Will
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
ISSN
1056-6139
DOI
Volume Title
Publisher
Interdisciplinary Humanities Spring Issue 2012: Children's Literature
Peer reviewed
Yes
Abstract
When thinking about the relationship between philosophy and children’s literature, it is often assumed that philosophy should have the last word. In this view, if children’s literature has any philosophical interest at all, it is because it can become the object of philosophical analysis, the vehicle for demonstrating some philosophical point or other, or a starting point for an exploration of the philosophy of childhood. In all such approaches, however, the real, serious, grown-up business is ultimately still considered to be that of philosophy. In this paper, I will be reversing the traditional hierarchy between philosophy and children’s literature. As an academically trained philosopher who has only later fallen into the writing of stories for children, I will explore how the discipline of writing for children has affected my own approach to philosophy, and opened up new possibilities for philosophical thinking.
Description
Keywords
Snorghs, children's literature, Levinas, philosophy, ethics, storytelling
Citation
Buckingham, W. (2012) What the Snorgh Taught me about Emmanuel Levinas. Interdisciplinary Humanities, 29 (1), pp. 85-98
Research Institute