This paper is an attempt to read Waiting for the Barbarians from the standpoint of an approach which is critical of modern intellect and its underlying foundations including the belief in universalism and foundationalism. Taking the Empire as the material and intellectual manifestation of the modern intellect, I will focus on the way foundationalism and universalism are likely to lead to totalization. As a result, modern intellect, despite its pretensions to holding liberal and universal views, has become inevitably reductive and exclusionary in relating to the other. The desire for boundary-drawing and closure is named ‘metaphysic of comprehension’, a term introduced by Robert Eaglestone who has been inspired by Emmanuel Levinas’s philosophy of ethics. I want to argue that Coetzee’s novel lends itself to a reading in which this yearning for comprehension is exposed and criticized. The question of representation, the pursuit of truth and the implementation of justice are areas which my analysis will be concerned with.

中文翻译：

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作为现代智慧化身的帝国：通过列维纳斯批判性阅读库切的《等待野蛮人》

本文试图从批判现代智力及其潜在基础（包括普遍主义和基础主义信仰）的角度来阅读《等待野蛮人》。将帝国作为现代智力的物质和智力表现，我将关注基础主义和普遍主义可能导致总体化的方式。结果，现代智力尽管自称持有自由主义和普遍的观点，但在与他者的关系中不可避免地变得还原和排斥。对边界绘制和闭合的渴望被命名为“理解的形而上学”，这是罗伯特·伊格尔斯通引入的一个术语，他受到埃曼纽尔·列维纳斯的伦理哲学的启发。我想争辩说，库切的小说适合阅读，在这种阅读中，这种对理解的渴望得到了暴露和批评。代表权问题、追求真理和执行正义是我的分析将关注的领域。