
The Political Sublime
Michael J. Shapiro(Author)
Duke University Press
Published on 15. March 2018
Book
Paperback/Softback
224 pages
978-0-8223-7052-9 (ISBN)
Description
In The Political Sublime Michael J. Shapiro formulates an original politics of aesthetics through an analysis of the experience of the sublime. Turning away from Kant's analysis of the sublime experience as a validation of the existence of a universal common sense, Shapiro draws on Deleuze, Lyotard, and RanciEre to show how incomprehensible events and dilemmas provide openings for new political formations. He approaches the sublime through a range of artistic and cultural texts that address social crises and natural disasters, from the writing of James Baldwin and Ta-Nehisi Coates to the films of Ingmar Bergman and Spike Lee; these works suggest ways to channel the disruptive effects of the sublime into resistance to authority and innovative political initiative. Whether stemming from the threat of nuclear annihilation or the aftermath of an earthquake, the violence of racism and terrorism or the devastation of industrialism, sublime experience, Shapiro contends, allows for a rethinking of events in ways that reveal, redistribute, and create conditions of possibility for alternative communities of sense.
Reviews / Votes
"The book is lean and not overly theoretically dense. It will appeal to the critically inclined for its original appropriation of Kant and intelligent commentary on temporality and politics . . . What is most striking and enduring about the work is that Shapiro seems to have offered the first figuration of a novel way to theorize individual and collective trauma as political without relying on a primary psychoanalytic dimension or its correlate literatures." - Mat Keel (AAG Review of Books) "After reading Michael J. Shapiro's book, I was hardpressed to imagine a more timely work in political theory. . . . The Political Sublime is not only timely but also the equal of the best examples of recent scholarship in the growing field of politics and aesthetics." - Morton Schoolman (Perspectives on Politics)More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
North Carolina
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
21 illustrations, incl. 3 in color
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 12 mm
Weight
332 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8223-7052-9 (9780822370529)
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

Michael J. Shapiro
The Political Sublime
E-Book
03/2018
1st Edition
De Gruyter
€198.99
Available for download
Person
Michael J. Shapiro is Professor of Political Science at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa and the author of numerous books, most recently Politics and Time.
Content
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction. The Insistence of the Sublime1
1. When the Earth Moves: Toward a Political Sublime 13
2. The Racial Sublime 41
3. The Nuclear Sublime 68
4. The Industrial Sublime 101
5. The 9/11 Terror Sublime 133
Afterword. It's All About Duration 169
Notes 173
Bibliography 193
Index 209
Introduction. The Insistence of the Sublime1
1. When the Earth Moves: Toward a Political Sublime 13
2. The Racial Sublime 41
3. The Nuclear Sublime 68
4. The Industrial Sublime 101
5. The 9/11 Terror Sublime 133
Afterword. It's All About Duration 169
Notes 173
Bibliography 193
Index 209