Steven Connor has recently commented on the current ubiquity of ethical debates in literary studies: "The word "ethics' seems to have replaced "textuality" as the most charged term in the vocabulary of contemporary literary and cultural theory."¹ A careful search through the catalogues of academic publishers, along the shelves of contemporary journals in humanities' libraries, or through the review pages of broadsheet newspapers and supplements will reveal the force of Connor's observation. What is the reason for the obsessive attention paid to the question of morality? Is it just another passing intellectual fad?