Resisting Representation
ISBN: , SKU: , AUTHOR: Scarry, Elaine, PUBLISHER: Oxford University Press, Renowned scholar Elaine Scarry's book, The Body in Pain, has been cong>allong>ed by Susan Sontag "extraordinary...large-spirited, heroicong>allong>y truthful." The Los Angeles Times cong>allong>ed it "brilliant, ambitious, and controversial." Now Oxford has collected some ong>ofong> Scarry's most provocative writing. This collection ong>ofong> ong>essaysong> deals with the complicated problems ong>ofong> representation in diverse literary and cultural genres--from her beloved sixth-century philosopher Boethius, through the nineteenth-century novel, to twentieth-century advertising. qWe ong>ofong>ten assume that ong>allong> areas ong>ofong> experience are equong>allong>y available for representation. On the contrary, these ong>essaysong> present discussions ong>ofong> experiences and concepts that chong>allong>enge, defeat, or block representation. Physical pain, physical labor, the hidden reflexes ong>ofong> cognition and its judgments about the coherence or incoherence ong>ofong> the world are ong>allong> phenomena that test the resources ong>ofong> language. Using primarily literary sources (works by Hardy, Beckett, Boethius, Thackeray, and others), Scarry also draws on painting, medical advertising, and philosophic dialogue to probe the limitations ong>ofong> expression and representation. Resisting Representation celebrates language. It looks at the problematic areas ong>ofong> expression not at the moment when representation is resisted, but at the moment when that resistance is at last overcome, thus suggesting a domain ong>ofong> plenitude and inclusion.