Affective encounters in a cathedral

Abstract

Based on discussions about aesthetics and politics and the power of literature, we propose the analysis of Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral”, focusing on the articulation between otherness and affect. Four specific authors back up the discussion: Mario Vargas Llosa and his texts about literature and life; Tzvetan Todorov and his reflections on the power of literature; Jacques Rancière and his notion of sharing the sensible; and Susan Sontag’s contributions on the function of art. Our aim is to value the place of affect in the gradually constructed process of encounter between the blind man and the narrator, which illustrates a process of becoming another through the potential of affecting and being affected. We will also pay special attention to the metaphor of the cathedral and its relationship with the narrative’s meanings on broader terms. We argue that the effect resulting from the affective encounter in the diegetic universe powerfully resonates in the reader, thus paradigmatically illustrating one of the ways literature can reveal its power.