Profanations

Giorgio Agamben (Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio)

Profanations
Format
Paperback
Publisher
Zone Books
Country
United States
Published
12 May 2015
Pages
102
ISBN
9781890951832

Profanations

Giorgio Agamben (Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio)

Essays by a provocative Italian philosopher on memory and oblivion, on what is lost and what remains.

The Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben has always been an original reader of texts, understanding their many rich historical, aesthetic, and political meanings and effects. In Profanations, Agamben has assembled for the first time some of his most pivotal essays on photography, the novel, and film. A meditation on memory and oblivion, on what is lost and what remains, Profanations proves yet again that Agamben is one of the most provocative writers of our time. In ten essays, Agamben ponders a series of literary and philosophical problems: the relation among genius, ego, and theories of subjectivity; the problem of messianic time as explicated in both images and lived experience; parody as a literary paradigm; and the potential of magic to provide an ethical canon.

The range of topics and themes addressed here attest to the creativity of Agamben’s singular mode of thought and his persistent concern with the act of witnessing, sometimes futile, sometimes earth-shattering. In Praise of Profanity, the central essay of this short but dense book, confronts the question of profanity as the crucial political task of the moment. An act of resistance to every form of separation, the concept of profanation reorients perceptions of how power, consumption, and use interweave to produce an urgent political modality and desire: to profane the unprofanable. Agamben not only provides a new and potent theoretical model but describes it with a writerly style that itself forges inescapable links among literature, politics, and philosophy.

This item is in-stock at 3 shops and will ship in 3-4 days

Our stock data is updated periodically, and availability may change throughout the day for in-demand items. Please call the relevant shop for the most current stock information. Prices are subject to change without notice.

Sign in or become a Readings Member to add this title to a wishlist.