Bloodrites of the Bost-Structuralists: Word, Flesh and Revolution Contributor(s): Norton, Anne (Author) |
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ISBN: 0415934591 ISBN-13: 9780415934596 Publisher: Routledge OUR PRICE: $65.50 Product Type: Paperback Published: October 2002 Annotation: In "Bloodrites of the Post-Structuralists" provocative theorist Anne Norton presents an alternative narrative of the history of the world She starts by reminding us of the real interplay between words (laws, scriptures, myths, and history) and the world of flesh (of bloodties and bloodshed, skin color and sexuality). The seemingly precious and all too literary constructs of the poststructuralists really do act on the body politic. The book is written on three historical sites: the revolutions in England and France, the struggle against colonialism, and the modern liberal order. In this telling, we see liberal constitutions born in Terror and regicide, we see a word, a text, a document, write "slave" on the darkness of the body, we see the guillotine release the power in the blood, and we hear the words that declare a people free. Norton re-reads and re-writes foundational myths from Abraham and Isaac on the mountain top in the Bible to legends of the American Revolution. This lyrical and mesmerizingbook serves, in its way, as a catalog of oppressions, and a history of the justifications oppressors have made for injustices. It also makes clear that that these oppressions and justifications continue on today, as certainly as they did in any point in history. Defying easy categorization, "Bloodrites of the Post-Structuralists" is the ultimate challenges to all those who claim that history has come to end, or that life is classifiable or uncomplex, or that we understand all we need to understand about the story of Western History. |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - Philosophy | Movements - Structuralism - Social Science | Sociology - General - Philosophy | Political |
Dewey: 303.4 |
LCCN: 2002021968 |
Physical Information: 0.52" H x 6.1" W x 8.94" (0.81 lbs) 216 pages |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: How do you write history when it's no longer linear? In Bloodrites of the Post-Structuralists, respected political theorist Anne Norton reminds us of the real interplay between words (laws, scriptures, myths, and texts), and the world of flesh. Drawing from sources as diverse as foundational myths from Sarah in the bible, Marat in his death bath, and thinkers like Hegel and Foucault, Norton reinterprets the relationship between word and flesh and places it in historical context. The French and English Revolutions, as well as the period of anti-colonialism and post-colonialism are used to frame her discussion of word and body, and their historical significance. |