Metodo

International Studies in Phenomenology and Philosophy

Book | Chapter

192980

Bye bye Bartleby and Hello seeing, or on the silence and the actualization to do … not

Kristof K. P. Vanhoutte

pp. 233-252

Abstract

Herman Melvelle's fictional character Bartleby, the New York scrivener who had the deadly habit of answering every question he received with the solemn "I would prefer not to," has become one of the central paradigms of political philosophy. José Saramago's novel Seeing has, recently, been portrayed as reiterating a similar political plotline. This chapter, by means of a comparative investigation of the activity performed by Melville's scrivener and Saramago's mostly nameless population of the (former) capital, and the interplay between silence and vocality in both tales, intends to demonstrate that this comparison is inaccurate. Saramago's novel is not about (passive) resistance like Bartleby. Seeing, on the contrary, is a true heretical tale in the "original" meaning of the word airesis.

Publication details

Published in:

Salzani Carlo, Vanhoutte Kristof K. P. (2018) Saramago's philosophical heritage. Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan.

Pages: 233-252

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-91923-2_12

Full citation:

Vanhoutte Kristof K. P. (2018) „Bye bye Bartleby and Hello seeing, or on the silence and the actualization to do … not“, In: C. Salzani & K. K. Vanhoutte (eds.), Saramago's philosophical heritage, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 233–252.