As the understanding of subject and language changed in the 19th and 20th centuries, the concept of sincerity (Redlichkeit) was profoundly problematized. Rather than rejecting the term, this study develops a theory of rhetorical and performative sincerity that relies neither on the subject nor on propositional language. Close readings of literary texts show that this sincerity is a representational mode that reveals the possibility of ethical speech beyond the subject.