Ante el dolor de los demás: violencia, fotografía y ética en «El Ojo Silva» de Roberto Bolaño
Regarding the Pain of Others: Violence, Photography, and Ethics in “Mauricio (‘The Eye’) Silva” by Roberto Bolaño

Summary/Abstract: The present essay proposes an interpretation of Roberto Bolaño’s short story “Mauricio (‘The Eye’) Silva” (Putas asesinas, 2001), in which I explore the relationship between photography and violence typical in contemporary society – a society governed by the logic of global capitalism and the politics of consumerism – and how a confrontation with this dark alliance puts the story’s protagonist in a limit situation that forces him to choose between taking an ethical-political stance by becoming a subject or ignoring this conscience call by being absent. I argue that as a photographer whose photographic assignments took him to India, the protagonist participates in symbolic violence by reproducing a hegemonic universe of meaning for Western readers and spectators. The confrontation with despicable violence and the face of a vulnerable other, in relation with a photographic act, constitutes a decisive moment. It is a face-to face encounter that demands responsibility for the Other (Levinas), an event (Badiou) that requires a new way of being. This decisive moment then produces an affective response, one which follows the model established by the ethics of care, based on friendship, concern, and affection.

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