Of Elephants and Toothaches

Eva Badowska (Author) Eva Badowska is Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Fordham University. Her publications include articles on Victorian fiction (in PMLA and Victorian Literature and Culture), feminist theory (in Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature), psychoanalytic theory (in The Psychoanalytic Review) and Polish poetry (in Parnassus: Poetry in Review). She is now working on a book entitled Kieslowski in Theory and History.Francesca Parmeggiani (Author) Francesca Parmeggiani is Associate Professor of Italian and Comparative Literature at Fordham University. Her research focuses on contemporary Italy, women's writing, and cinema. She is the author of Lo spessore della letteratura (Longo, 2007), a study of the fictional adaptations of scripture by Italian writers in the 1960s and 1970s, and the co-editor of Forme, volti e linguaggi della violenza nella cultura italiana (Edibom, 2012), an essay collection on the representation of violence in Italian culture. Her articles have appeared in Annali d'Italianistica, Cahiers d'études italiennes, Italica, Italianistica, and Romance Languages, among other venues.

• Acknowledgments "Within unrest, there is always a question" Eva Badowska and Francesca Parmeggiani Rules and Virtues: The Moral Insight of Krzysztof Kiezlowski's Decalogue William Jaworski Tablets of Stone, Tablets of Flesh: Synesthetic Appeal in Kie?lowski's Decalogue Joseph G. Kickasola Kiezlowski's Decalogue One: Witnessing a Responsible Ethics of Response from a Jewish Perspective Moshe Gold Visual Reverberations: Decalogues Two and Eight Eva M. Stadler Remember the Sabbath Day, to Keep it Holy: Kiezlowski's Decalogue Three Joseph W. Koterski, S.J. Decalogue Four: "You Are Completely Free and I Pretend It Doesn't Affect Me At All" Anne-Katrin Titze Decalogue Five: A Short Film about Killing, Sin, and Community Michael Baur States of Exception: Politics and Poetics in Decalogue Six Eva Badowska Decalogue Seven: A Tale of Love, Failing Words, and Moving Images Francesca Parmeggiani Decalogue Eight: Childhood, Emotion and the Shoah Emma Wilson Divine Possession: Metaphysical Covetousness in Decalogue Nine Philip Sicker Laughter Makes Good Neighbors: Sociability and the Comic in Decalogue Ten Regina Small Notes List of Contributors Index

"This volume is true to the spirit of open engagement in relation to matters of ultimate concern. In their introduction, the editors cite a quote from Kieslowski that wonderfully expresses this openness: 'Both the deep believer and the habitual skeptic experience toothaches in exactly the same way. I always try to speak about toothaches--always. If I am successful in talking about toothaches, I think everyone will understand me.' Indeed, this collection as a whole speaks to this experience of 'toothaches' that afflicts us all. Like Kieslowski himself, the various contributors of this collection are willing to grope in the dark as they explore some of the most fundamental but uncharted facets of the human condition." -- -John Caruana Ryerson University "This is a strong and timely collection that fills a gap in the existing English-language scholarship on a very significant work, and the important issues it raises." -- -Paul Coates University of Western Ontario