The possibility of failure. On the works of Imre Kertész from a moral philosophical point of view

Tamás Barcsi

IN: Partitúra Irodalomtudományi folyóirat, Volume XIII. , Issue 2, 2018, p. 23-68., ISSN 1336-7307

DOI: 10.17846/PA.2018.13.2.23-68

Astract:

In my paper I examine failure and success related problems through the works of Imre Kertész. First, I discuss the arising questions regarding a good life, thus, I analyse the various aspects of existential failure and success. Then I write about moral philosophical dilemmas, and the relation between existential and moral failure and existential and moral success in the works of Kertész. Finally, I try to grasp how Kertész perceives civilizational failure and answer the question to what extent can “the holocaust as culture” provide a basis for the
revival of civilization and moral, or whether there’s a possibility for civilization’s revival at all.

Keywords: Imre Kertész, failure, success, ethics, moral philosophy, civilization, culture

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Partitúra is a Hungarian literary journal published in Slovakia twice a year. The first edition was issued in 2006. From 2007 to 2014 its publishers were the Faculty of Central European Studies at The Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra in cooperation with Sambucus Literary Society. Since 2014 the Faculty of Central European Studies at the CPU in Nitra became the sole publisher.

The journal releases peer-reviewed scientific articles, literary studies and art reviews of both Hungarian as well as world literature. It is also a forum for essays on several other arts and intercultural relations. Furthermore, special attention is devoted to the Central European literature and literary studies; the magazine not only publishes the reviews of such studies, but also provides the arena for reflections about them. The journal aims to give an account of the contemporary Hungarian literature of the Hungarian minorities as well as to serve as a cluster for discourses.

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