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Article: Conspiracy theories and literary ethics: Umberto Eco, Danilo Kis and The Protocols of Zion
- Article from:
- Comparative Literature
- Article date:
- April 1, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright Comparative Literature Spring 1999. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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TO CONSPIRE MEANS literally to breathe together. And usually it's about bad breath. The word conspiracy tends to be used pejoratively to designate a subversive kinship of others, an imagined community based on exclusion more than on affection. Conspiracy theory is a conspiracy against conspiracy;
it does not oppose the conspiratorial world view as such but doubly affirms it. Because conspiratorial thinking, whether based on facts or on fictions, produces vicious circles of analogy and paranoiac overdetermination, conspiracy theory can become a cause of violence, not merely its effect. How, then, can one produce a critical reflection on conspiracy that will not turn into a conspiracy theory? ...