
Seeing Ghosts
9/11 and the Visual Imagination
Karen Engle(Author)
McGill-Queen's University Press
Will be published approx. on 1. April 2009
Book
Hardback
224 pages
978-0-7735-3540-4 (ISBN)
Description
On September 11 more people clicked "on documentary news photographs than on pornography for the first (and only) time in the history of the Internet," reports writer David Levi Strauss. The archive of images associated with the tragic events of 9/11 merits careful analysis. Artist Damien Hirst has suggested that the attacks were designed to be viewed - "The thing about 9/11 is that it's kind of an artwork in its own right. It was wicked, but it was devised in this way for this kind of impact. It was devised visually." Starting from the tremendous fascination with images of 9/11, Karen Engle asks what, in the context of a national trauma, makes an image appropriate or scandalous, exploring how diverse visual media have been mobilized in political projects of identification and personal narratives of empathy. Focusing on themes of memory, mourning, and history, Engle examines sculptural, photographic, and new media responses to the 9/11 attacks in both contemporary and historical contexts, considers the public's reaction to these visual productions, and suggests that earlier presentations of America at war play a pivotal role in the representations of 9/11 in both official and popular media. Seeing Ghosts is a groundbreaking theoretical study of how we remember, how we mourn, and how images of a particular event influence our imagination of the future.
Reviews / Votes
"Engle unifies a seemingly disparate assortment of 9/11 photographs, cartoons, memorabilia, and memorials in a compelling argument regarding identity formation through mourning. Accessible and deeply engaging." John Tercier, University of California, San FranciscoMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Montreal
Canada
Illustrations
41 b&w photos
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Weight
412 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7735-3540-4 (9780773535404)
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
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
04/2009
MQUP
€50.99
Available for download

E-Book
04/2009
1st Edition
De Gruyter
€29.49
Available for download
Person
Karen Engle is assistant professor, sociology and visual culture, University of Windsor.