The relation between ethics and literature became a topic of intense academic debate at the end of the twentieth century—at a time, that is, when that relation was no longer self-evident after the challenges of postcolonial, feminist, and deconstructive critique. Humanist proponents of literature’s role as an empathy engine (Nussbaum, Rorty) entered into conversation with theorists who took inspiration from the work of Jacques Derrida and Emmanuel Levinas to valorize literature as a site of singular otherness—as an occasion of ethical encounter rather than moral instruction (Attridge, Eaglestone, Miller).