Back to zero in Epidemic Times: literary and philosophical approach to Samantha Schweppelin's “safety distance

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Lecturer in Spanish Language Dept. Faculty of Al Alsun, Ain Shams University

Abstract

Throughout the history of literature, blindness and visibility have endless interpretations. This paper aims to analyze the novel, Safe distance (2015) by Samanta Schweblin, in the light of the reflections of the philosopher Jacques Derrida to understand how the concept of the visible versus invisible is developed in her narrative fiction. These reflections will revolve around certain conceptual axes: blindness or the blind spot, vision, double reality, the self as an/other, etc., within the argumentation and structure of the novel, and within the greater framework of the experience of living a pandemic and the process of change and suffering.

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