Culture and the Real

Theorizing Cultural Criticism

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism
Cover of the book Culture and the Real by Catherine Belsey, Taylor and Francis
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Catherine Belsey ISBN: 9781134527205
Publisher: Taylor and Francis Publication: December 17, 2004
Imprint: Routledge Language: English
Author: Catherine Belsey
ISBN: 9781134527205
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Publication: December 17, 2004
Imprint: Routledge
Language: English

What makes us the people we are? Culture evidently plays a part, but how large a part? Is culture alone the source of our identities? Some have argued that human nature is the foundation of culture, others that culture is the foundation of human identity. Catherine Belsey calls for a more nuanced, relational account of what it is to be human, and in doing so puts forward a significant new theory of culture.

Culture and the Real explains with Professor Belsey's characteristic lucidity the views of recent theorists, including Jean-François Lyotard, Judith Butler and Slavoj Zizek, as well as their debt to the earlier work of Kant and Hegel, in order to take issue with their accounts of what it is to be human. To explore the human, she demonstrates, is to acknowledge the relationship between culture and what we don't know: not the familiar world picture presented to us by culture as 'reality', but the unsayable, or the strange region that lies beyond culture, which Lacan has called 'the real'. Culture, she argues, registers a sense of its own limits in ways more subtle than the theorists allow.
This volume builds on the insights of Belsey's influential Critical Practice to provide not only an accessible introduction to contemporary theories of what it is to be human, but a major new contribution to current debates about culture. Taking examples from film and art, fiction and poetry, Culture and the Real is essential reading for those studying or working in cultural criticism, within the fields of English, Cultural Studies, Film Studies and Art History.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

What makes us the people we are? Culture evidently plays a part, but how large a part? Is culture alone the source of our identities? Some have argued that human nature is the foundation of culture, others that culture is the foundation of human identity. Catherine Belsey calls for a more nuanced, relational account of what it is to be human, and in doing so puts forward a significant new theory of culture.

Culture and the Real explains with Professor Belsey's characteristic lucidity the views of recent theorists, including Jean-François Lyotard, Judith Butler and Slavoj Zizek, as well as their debt to the earlier work of Kant and Hegel, in order to take issue with their accounts of what it is to be human. To explore the human, she demonstrates, is to acknowledge the relationship between culture and what we don't know: not the familiar world picture presented to us by culture as 'reality', but the unsayable, or the strange region that lies beyond culture, which Lacan has called 'the real'. Culture, she argues, registers a sense of its own limits in ways more subtle than the theorists allow.
This volume builds on the insights of Belsey's influential Critical Practice to provide not only an accessible introduction to contemporary theories of what it is to be human, but a major new contribution to current debates about culture. Taking examples from film and art, fiction and poetry, Culture and the Real is essential reading for those studying or working in cultural criticism, within the fields of English, Cultural Studies, Film Studies and Art History.

More books from Taylor and Francis

Cover of the book Agrarian Reform in Contemporary Developing Countries by Catherine Belsey
Cover of the book Teaching Academic ESL Writing by Catherine Belsey
Cover of the book Philip Sidney and the Poetics of Renaissance Cosmopolitanism by Catherine Belsey
Cover of the book The People of Aritama by Catherine Belsey
Cover of the book Routledge Handbook of Agricultural Biodiversity by Catherine Belsey
Cover of the book French Feminisms by Catherine Belsey
Cover of the book What Happened to Planning? (Routledge Revivals) by Catherine Belsey
Cover of the book The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defence by Catherine Belsey
Cover of the book Women and Work by Catherine Belsey
Cover of the book The Book of Opening the Mouth: Vol. I (Routledge Revivals) by Catherine Belsey
Cover of the book British Naval Aviation by Catherine Belsey
Cover of the book Literacy Play for the Early Years Book 1 by Catherine Belsey
Cover of the book The Quest for the Melodic Electric Bass by Catherine Belsey
Cover of the book The G8 System and the G20 by Catherine Belsey
Cover of the book The Mental Health Handbook for Primary School by Catherine Belsey
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy