The Madness of Forgiveness and Chang-rae Lee's A Gesture Life

2025/03/01 by Jungah Kim-Kiteishvili · 2 voices
Social Sciences · #Asian Culture and Media Studies

paper · doi:10.1353/cul.2025.a957078

openalex publication_date 2025/03/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21

Abstract

Abstract: Drawing on writings of Jacques Derrida and Hannah Arendt, this article examines the philosophy of forgiveness through an analysis of Chang-rae Lee's A Gesture Life . The discussion makes use of Arendt's reflections on radical evil to broach the issue of how fragmented memories of wartime crimes are woven into a confessional tale in which much of what is remembered is unforgivable. Thereafter, the article confronts the moral ambiguity of armed conflict and the horror of violent sexual exploitation, both historical and in the fictional account, and builds upon Derrida in suggesting that true forgiveness, in contrast to the theatrical politics of public apology, depends upon an aporetic moment that facilitates a radical confrontation between the living and the dead.

Discussions

• Departing from "Derrida's meditations on Japanese political leaders' national apologies," Kim-Kiteishvili "aims to reimagine the ethical and political possibilities of forgiveness as part of, and apar [bsky, 1 points, 0 comments]
• The Madness of Forgiveness and Chang-rae Lee's A Gesture Life Jungah Kim-Kiteishvili doi.org/10.1353/cul.... [bsky, 0 points, 0 comments]

Related

• To Be Undone
• Beyond redemption: sad perpetrators and narratives of atrocity
• The Politics of Resentment and the Tyranny of the Minority: Rethinking Victimage for Resentful Times
• Revenge, Plasticity and Imagination
• Hannah Arendt's Trains of Thought 1951 to 1955. A memorandum on the occasion of the publication of “The Modern Challenge to Tradition: Fragments of a Book” as volume 6 of Hannah Arendt, “Complete Works”