Andrew Spira

The Invention of the Self

Personal Identity in the Age of Art

• Broschiertes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

This book is an examination of personal identity, exploring both who we think we are, and how we construct the sense of ourselves through art. It proposes that the notion of personal identity is a psycho-social construction that has evolved over many centuries. While this idea has been widely discussed in recent years, Andrew Spira approaches it from a completely new point of view. Rather than relying on the thinking subject's attempts to identify itself consciously and verbally, it focuses on the traces that the self-sense has unconsciously left in the fabric of its environment in the form of non-verbal cultural conventions. Covering a millennium of western European cultural history, it amounts to an 'anthropology of personal identity in the West'. Following a broadly chronological path, Spira traces the self-sense from its emergence from the collectivity of the medieval Church to its consummation in the individualistic concept of artistic genius in the 19th century. In doing so, it aims to bridge a gap that exists between cultural history and philosophy. Regarding cultural history (especially art history), it elicits significances from its material that have been thoroughly overlooked. Regarding philosophy, it highlights the crucial role that material culture plays in the formation of philosophical ideas. It argues that the sense of personal self is as much revealed by cultural conventions - and as a cultural convention - as it is observable to the mind as an object of philosophical enquiry.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Bloomsbury Academic
• Seitenzahl: 416
• Erscheinungstermin: 30. Juni 2022
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 227mm x 158mm x 27mm
• Gewicht: 925g
• ISBN-13: 9781350298170
• ISBN-10: 1350298174
• Artikelnr.: 63473638

Autorenporträt

Andrew Spira is an independent art historian and curator. For several years, he was a curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK, and subsequently Course Leader at Christie's Education London. He is author of The Avant-Garde Icon: Russian Avant-garde Art and the Icon Painting Tradition (2008).

Inhaltsangabe

Preface Acknowledgements 1. The Concept Of The Self 2. The Emergence Of The
Self: The Structure Of The Medieval Church And Popular, Heretical And
Visionary Dissensions From It 3. The Resurrection Of Theoretical Self:
Imaginative Empathy With The Suffering And Death Of Christ 4. The
Localisation Of The Self: The Origins Of Perspective And The Accommodation
Of The Self In Pictorial Space 5. The Necessitation Of The Self: The
Ennoblement Of The Artist And The Invention Of An Archetype 6. The
Abstraction Of The Self: The Secularisation Of Subject-Matter And The
Commodification Of Art 7. The Imaginary Environments Of The Self: Its
Physical And Intellectual Frames Of Mind 8. The Privatisation Of The Self:
Fireplaces, Beds And Mirrors 9. The Automation Of The Self: The Material
Culture Of Time-Keeping 10. The Sensibilities Of The Self: Courtesy,
Conversation, Letter-Writing And Novel-Reading 11. The Behaviour Of The
Self: The Codification Of Sensibility In Domestic Life 12. The Portrayal Of
The Self: Facial Expression And The Language Of Personal Emotion 13. The
Enjoyment Of The Self: Sexuality And The Valorisation Of Meaningless
Pleasure 14. The Embodiment Of The Self: The Awakening To Sensation 15. The
Autonomy Of The Self: The Invention Of Taste And Aesthetics 16. The
Naturalness Of The Self: The Picturesque Transformation Of Nature Into A
Mirror Of Personal Sublimity 17. The Consummation Of The Self: The
Sanctification Of Art 18. The Seamless Garment Of The Self Bibliography
Index