
Phantom Communities
The Simulacrum and the Limits of Postmodernism
Scott Durham(Author)
Stanford University Press
Published on 1. May 1998
Book
Paperback/Softback
268 pages
978-0-8047-3336-6 (ISBN)
Description
Phantom Communities reconsiders the status of the simulacrum-sometimes defined as a copy of a copy, but more rigorously defined as a copy that subverts the legitimacy and authority of its model-in light of recent debates in literature, art, philosophy, and cultural studies.
The author pursues two interwoven levels of analysis. On one level, he explores the poetics of the simulacrum, considered as a form that internalizes repetition, through close readings of a number of exemplary literary texts, paintings, and films from both the Anglo-American and French traditions, including works by Jean Genet, Pierre Klossowski, Rene Magritte, Andy Warhol, J. G. Ballard, Balthus, and Raul Ruiz. Through his readings of these works, the author follows the transformations of the simulacrum, showing how its vicissitudes provide an optic for remapping the postmodern canon.
On another level, the author offers an account of the role played by the simulacrum as a theoretical concept that assumes varying analytical and ideological valences in the writings of such theorists as Jean Baudrillard, Fredric Jameson, Michel Foucault, and Gilles Deleuze. In so doing, Phantom Communities intervenes in ongoing interdisciplinary debates concerning the historical and ideological limits of postmodernism, as well as the utopian possibilities of art, literature, and philosophy in a postmodern context.
Moving between these debates and the interpretation of individual works, the author shows how they converge on the fundamental aesthetic and ideological problem raised by the postmodern culture of the simulacrum: imagining the virtual communities that, at the margins of postmodern culture, are at once figured and eclipsed by its proliferating images.
The author pursues two interwoven levels of analysis. On one level, he explores the poetics of the simulacrum, considered as a form that internalizes repetition, through close readings of a number of exemplary literary texts, paintings, and films from both the Anglo-American and French traditions, including works by Jean Genet, Pierre Klossowski, Rene Magritte, Andy Warhol, J. G. Ballard, Balthus, and Raul Ruiz. Through his readings of these works, the author follows the transformations of the simulacrum, showing how its vicissitudes provide an optic for remapping the postmodern canon.
On another level, the author offers an account of the role played by the simulacrum as a theoretical concept that assumes varying analytical and ideological valences in the writings of such theorists as Jean Baudrillard, Fredric Jameson, Michel Foucault, and Gilles Deleuze. In so doing, Phantom Communities intervenes in ongoing interdisciplinary debates concerning the historical and ideological limits of postmodernism, as well as the utopian possibilities of art, literature, and philosophy in a postmodern context.
Moving between these debates and the interpretation of individual works, the author shows how they converge on the fundamental aesthetic and ideological problem raised by the postmodern culture of the simulacrum: imagining the virtual communities that, at the margins of postmodern culture, are at once figured and eclipsed by its proliferating images.
Reviews / Votes
"Phantom Communities develops its arguments with a razor's edge, and it has the gift of embracing ambivalence, contradiction, undecidability, and other forces with an uncommon sense of affirmation. This book will mark an enduring contribution to French studies in America." -Tom Conley,Harvard UniversityMore details
Edition
New edition
Language
English
Place of publication
Palo Alto
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Edition type
New edition
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
6 illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 15 mm
Weight
363 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8047-3336-6 (9780804733366)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Scott Durham is Assistant Professor of French at Northwestern University.
Content
Contents PART ONE 1. 2. PART TWO 3. 4. PART THREE 5. 6.