The Knotted Subject

The Knotted Subject
Author :
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Total Pages : 489
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781400864737
ISBN-13 : 1400864739
Rating : 4/5 (37 Downloads)

Book Synopsis The Knotted Subject by : Elisabeth Bronfen

Download or read book The Knotted Subject written by Elisabeth Bronfen and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2014-07-14 with total page 489 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Surrealist writer André Breton praised hysteria for being the greatest poetic discovery of the nineteenth century, but many physicians have since viewed it as the "wastebasket of medicine," a psychosomatic state that defies attempts at definition and cure and that can be easily mistaken for other pathological conditions. In light of a resurgence of critical interest in hysteria, leading feminist scholar Elisabeth Bronfen reinvestigates medical writings and cultural performance to reveal the continued relevance of a disorder widely thought to be a romantic formulation of the past. Through a critical rereading, she develops a new concept of hysteria, one that challenges traditional gender-based theories linking it to dissatisfied feminine sexual desire. Bronfen turns instead to hysteria's traumatic causes, particularly the fear of violation, and shows how the conversion of psychic anguish into somatic symptoms can be interpreted today as the enactment of personal and cultural discontent. Tracing the development of cultural formations of hysteria from the 1800s to the present, this book explores the writings of Freud, Charcot, and Janet together with fictional texts (Radcliffe, Stoker, Anne Sexton), opera (Mozart, Wagner), cinema (Cronenberg, Hitchcock, Woody Allen), and visual art (Marie-Ange Guilleminot, Cindy Sherman). Each of these creative works attests to a particular relationship between hysteria and self-fashioning, and enables us to read hysteria quite literally as a language of discontent. The message broadcasted by the hysteric is one of vulnerability: vulnerability of the symbolic, of identity, and of the human body itself. Throughout this work, Bronfen not only offers fresh approaches to understanding hysteria in our culture, but also introduces a new metaphor to serve as a theoretical tool. Whereas the phallus has long dominated psychoanalytical discourse, the image of the navel--a knotted originary wound common to both genders--facilitates discussion of topics relevant to hysteria, such as trauma, mortality, and infinity. Bronfen's insights make for a lively, innovative work sure to interest readers across the fields of art and literature, feminism, and psychology. Originally published in 1998. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.


The Knotted Subject Related Books

The Knotted Subject
Language: en
Pages: 489
Authors: Elisabeth Bronfen
Categories: Literary Criticism
Type: BOOK - Published: 2014-07-14 - Publisher: Princeton University Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Surrealist writer André Breton praised hysteria for being the greatest poetic discovery of the nineteenth century, but many physicians have since viewed it as
Generations and Geographies in the Visual Arts: Feminist Readings
Language: en
Pages: 410
Authors: Griselda Pollock
Categories: Art
Type: BOOK - Published: 2005-08-12 - Publisher: Routledge

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Great collection from for top feminist art historians and thinkers Includes Griselda Pollock and Mieke Bal International perspective focusing on gender and race
The Knot Book
Language: en
Pages: 330
Authors: Colin Conrad Adams
Categories: Mathematics
Type: BOOK - Published: 2004 - Publisher: American Mathematical Soc.

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Knots are familiar objects. Yet the mathematical theory of knots quickly leads to deep results in topology and geometry. This work offers an introduction to thi
The Lacanian Subject
Language: en
Pages: 239
Authors: Bruce Fink
Categories: Literary Criticism
Type: BOOK - Published: 2017-02-15 - Publisher: Princeton University Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book presents the radically new theory of subjectivity found in the work of Jacques Lacan. Against the tide of post-structuralist thinkers who announce "th
Feminist Consequences
Language: en
Pages: 513
Authors: Elisabeth Bronfen
Categories: Philosophy
Type: BOOK - Published: 2001 - Publisher: Columbia University Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Exploring the status of feminism in this "postfeminist" age, this sophisticated meditation on feminist thinking over the past three decades moves away from the