Cultural Semantics: Keywords of Our Time (Volume in the Series Critical Perspectives on Modern Culture)

In this account of some of the central concepts in modern life and thought, Professor Jay investigates how language cannot fail to change and mediate experience. The topics he treats range from "theory" and "experience" to the meaning of "multiculturalism" and the dynamic of "cultural subversion", and among the thinkers he engages are Bataille, Foucault, Adorno, Walter Benjamin and Lyotard. A Selection Of Martin Jay's Recent Writings On Contemporary Thought And Culture, This Is A Book About Ideas That Matter - And About Why Ideas Matter. Borrowing From Flaubert's Notion Of A Dictionary Of Received Ideas And Raymond Williams's Explorations Of The Keywords Of The Modern Age, Jay Investigates Some Of The Central Concepts By Which We Currently Organize Our Thoughts And Lives. His Topics Range From Theory And Experience To The Meaning Of Multiculturalism And The Dynamics Of Cultural Subversion. Among The Thinkers He Engages Are Bataille And Foucault, Adorno And Lacoue-labarthe, Benjamin, Lyotard, And Christa Wolf. By Looking Closely At What Words Do And Perform, Jay Makes Us Aware Of The Extent To Which The Language We Use Mediates And Shapes Our Experience. By Helping To Distance Us From Much That We Now Take For Granted, He Makes It Difficult For Us To Remain Comfortably Certain About What We Think We Know. For Theory -- European Intellectual History And The Specter Of Multiculturalism -- Songs Of Experience : Reflections On The Debate Over Alltagsgchichte -- Experience Without A Subject : Walter Benjamin And The Novel -- The Limits Of Limit-experience : Bataille And Foucault -- No Power To The Soviets -- Who's Afraid Of Christa Wolf? Thoughts On The Dynamics Of Cultural Subversion -- Postmodern Fascism? Reflections On The Return Of The Repressed -- Educating The Educators -- The Aesthetic Alibi -- Mimesis And Mimetology : Adorno And Lacoue-labarthe -- The Academic Woman As Performance Artist -- Abjection Overruled -- The Uncanny Nineties -- Modernism And The Specter Of Psychologism -- Modern And Postmodern Paganism : Peter Gay And Jean-françois Lyotard -- The Manacles Of Gavrilo Princip. Martin Jay. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [205]-249) And Index.

a Selection Of Martin Jay's Recent Writings On Contemporary Thought And Culture, This Is A Book About Ideas That Matter - And About Why Ideas Matter. Borrowing From Flaubert's Notion Of A Dictionary Of Received Ideas And Raymond Williams's Explorations Of The Keywords Of The Modern Age, Jay Investigates Some Of The Central Concepts By Which We Currently Organize Our Thoughts And Lives. His Topics Range From Theory And Experience To The Meaning Of Multiculturalism And The Dynamics Of Cultural Subversion. Among The Thinkers He Engages Are Bataille And Foucault, Adorno And Lacoue-labarthe, Benjamin, Lyotard, And Christa Wolf. By Looking Closely At What Words Do And Perform, Jay Makes Us Aware Of The Extent To Which The Language We Use Mediates And Shapes Our Experience. By Helping To Distance Us From Much That We Now Take For Granted, He Makes It Difficult For Us To Remain Comfortably Certain About What We Think We Know.

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dedicated To Literary Critic Bill Readings, The First Essay, For Theory, Traces The Vicissitudes Of One Of The Most Hotly Contested Keywords Of Our Time, Paying Special Attention To The Often Contradictory Ways In Which Theory Has Been Evoked By Exponents Or Critics Of Its Various Usages. Other Essays Explore Multiculturalism, The Debate Over , The Limits Of Limit-experience, The Dynamics Of Cultural Subversion, The Aesthetic Alibi, Mimesis And Mimetology, The Academic Woman As Performance Artist, Modernism And Psychologism, Postmodern Paganism, And The Manacles Of Gavrilo Princip. Paper Edition (unseen), $16.95. Annotation C. By Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

A selection of Martin Jay's recent writings on contemporary thought and culture, this is a book about ideas that matterand about why ideas matter. Borrowing from Flaubert's notion of a dictionary of "received ideas" and Raymond Williams's explorations of the "keywords" of the modern age, Jay investigates some of the central concepts by which we currently organize our thoughts and lives. His topics range from "theory" and "experience" to the meaning of "multiculturalism" and the dynamics of cultural "subversion." Among the thinkers he engages are Bataille and Foucault, Adorno and Lacoue-Labarthe, Walter Benjamin, Christa Wolf, and Jean-Franois Lyotard. By looking closely at what "words do and perform," Jay makes us aware of the extent to which the language we use mediates and shapes our experience. By helping to distance us from much that we now take for granted, he makes it difficult for us to remain comfortably certain about what we think we know. Elegantly written and richly insightful, this is a work of cultural criticism and intellectual analysis of the first order. "A selection of Martin Jay's recent writings on contemporary thought and culture, this is a book about ideas that matter - and about why ideas matter. Borrowing from Flaubert's notion of a dictionary of "received ideas" and Raymond Williams's explorations of the "keywords" of the modern age, Jay investigates some of the central concepts by which we currently organize our thoughts and lives. His topics range from "theory" and "experience" to the meaning of "multiculturalism" and the dynamics of cultural "subversion." Among the thinkers he engages are Bataille and Foucault, Adorno and Lacoue-Labarthe, Benjamin, Lyotard, and Christa Wolf." "By looking closely at what "words do and perform," Jay makes us aware of the extent to which the language we use mediates and shapes our experience. By helping to distance us from much that we now take for granted, he makes it difficult for us to remain comfortably certain about what we think we know."--Jacket For those readers with keen memories, the title of this essay may evoke the parallel title of a collection of essays by Theory and Society's founding editor that appeared in 1973.