Ethical Writing and Commemoration: Benjamin Fondane's ‘Preface in Prose’ and the Philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas

Abstract

The end of Benjamin Fondane's iconic poem, the ‘Préface en prose’, is inscribed at the entrance of Yad Vashem's Hall of Names. The quote is a resonant call to recognize the humanity of all victims in the poet's human countenance. This reference, among many other elements in this poem, prompts a comparison to Emmanuel Levinas's philosophy. The poem's speaker specifically resembles Levinas's ‘Other’. Contrary to Levinas, it is maintained that written discourse, and not just the face-to-face encounter, involves an ethical summons, implying a responsibility on the part of the reader: the responsibility to commemorate, in this case to commemorate the innocent humanity murdered in the Shoah.