Ying Chen et l'appel du risque

Lucie Lequin
1999 Tessera  
Within the context of literary scholarship, argues Lucie Lequin, ethics is not so much aspace for discussing morality or prescribed behaviours as a space for exploring meaningful departures from prevailing structures or "laws." At once a site of questioning and of recognizing the latter structures, ethics is profoundly paradoxical. The works of Ying Chen, the essay suggests, are marked by this double movement: breaking with recognized structures on the one hand and searching for a happy medium
more » ... r just balance on the other. In other words, transgressing social norms is enlightening and enabling but is not a source of salvation in any absolute sense. Completely unchecked, risktaking leads to death; tempered by everyday life, it transforms and allows for the emergence of new values and ways of living.
doi:10.25071/1923-9408.25203 fatcat:gw4aqu7s3jhy7hqzeeuybkxstq