L’empathie, émotion de la construction de soi et de l’engagement politique: Lola Lafon, Mercy, Mary, Patty

This chapter examines the representation of empathy in the novel Mercy, Mary, Patty by Lola Lafon (2017). On the one hand, it is a critique of the spontaneous pseudo-empathy produced by the instrumentalization of images by the media; on the other hand, it is a fine depiction of true empathy as the product of sustained attention, effort, doubt and the questioning of received ideas. This allows the author to highlight the role of empathy as a foundation for recognition, intersubjectivity, self-construction and commitment.

Keywords: Lola Lafon, acknowledgment, intersubjectivity, pseudo-empathy, self-construction, commitment