'EQUANIMITY': LES MURRAY, LEVINAS AND THE BREATH OF GOD

This article provides a close reading of Les Murray's poem 'Equanimity' in the context of Emmanuel Levinas' ethical thought. It argues that Murray's poem can be located in relation to Paul Celan's concept of the 'turn of breath', a hermeneutics of voice and address that points to Levinas' understanding of the face of the other. 'Equanimity' both works out a conception of encounter with the other that has strong parallels in Levinas (particularly concerning the themes of speaking and seeing), and seeks to move beyond an ethics based in difference by incorporating speech and vision into a theology of grace.