Author : Geoffrey Galt Harpham
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 344 pages
File Size : 46,9 Mb
Release : 2011-01-15
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9780226316901
The Ascetic Imperative in Culture and Criticism by Geoffrey Galt Harpham Pdf
In this bold interdisciplinary work, Geoffrey Galt Harpham argues that asceticism has played a major role in shaping Western ideas of the body, writing, ethics, and aesthetics. He suggests that we consider the ascetic as "the 'cultural' element in culture," and presents a close analysis of works by Athanasius, Augustine, Matthias, Grünewald, Nietzsche, Foucault, and other thinkers as proof of the extent of asceticism's resources. Harpham demonstrates the usefulness of his findings by deriving from asceticism a "discourse of resistance," a code of interpretation ultimately more generous and humane than those currently available to us.