Gestures of neighbor‐love: Literature, philosophy, and givenness

Abstract This article explores the literary, philosophical, and phenomenological dimensions of neighbor‐love. Phenomenologically speaking, neighborly love must be given , that is, it must be given voluntarily through attitudes, actions, or gestures. But whom do we actually acknowledge as our neighbor, and why? Adopting a comparative literary approach, this paper argues that literature is not philosophy's adversary but its creative interlocutor: Ilse Aichinger's poem “Foundling” transcends anthropocentric perspectives, presenting the Neighbor as a being beyond denomination by translating it from human to animal. Doris Lessing's novel The Diary of a Good Neighbour depicts the unpredictable and accidental nature of encounters with the Neighbor, leaving no room for personal choice. Ultimately, Amélie Nothomb's Les catilinaires  illustrates how the Neighbor can be a persistent annoyance that both irritates and resists systematic thinking. These literary works outline a nuanced poetics of neighbor‐love and givenness that extends beyond any anthropological, theological, or religio‐ethical concept.