The absurd, exile and the beginning of ethics

• Main Author: Yong, Ade Wernmei
• Other Authors: School of Humanities
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2021
• Subjects: Humanities::Language::English; Fasting, Feasting; Absurd
• Online Access: http://www.movingworlds.net/volumes/17/anita-desai-reflections/; https://hdl.handle.net/10356/152478
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

This paper aims to read Fasting, Feasting as a novel about absurdity; the absurd human being who finds him/herself in an absurd world. The absurd human being, as understood by Camus, is the exile. As the exile, as that which stands apart, that is other both to himself and to the world he lives in, is the product, I argue, of the self being awakened and troubled by its encounter with an other, with the unknown, and with infinity. I will be referring to these concepts as they are understood by Camus and Levinas, to argue that Desai’s novel, in its exploration of themes of alienation, exile, otherness and transcendence – all of which inform the existential milieu of her work – provides us a philosophy of ethics.