Addresses ethical and aesthetic issues in three major works by Henry James.
What is the matter with the women in Henry James? In The Portrait of a Lady, The Wings of the Dove, and his short story "The Altar of the Dead," one woman returns to a monster of a husband, another dies rather than confront the truth of her lover's engagement, while yet another stakes her all on having a candle lit for a dead lover, only to promptly reject it. Exploring these strange choices, Sigi Jöttkandt argues that the singularity of these acts lies in their ethical nature, and that the ethical principle involved cannot be divorced from the question of aesthetics. She combines close readings of James with suggestive tours through Kantian aesthetics and set theory to uncover the aesthetic underpinning of the Lacanian ethical act, which has been largely overlooked in the current drive to discover a Cartesian origin for the subject as the subject of science.
| ISBN: | 9780791465578 |
| Publication date: | 15th October 2005 |
| Author: | Sigi Jottkandt |
| Publisher: | SUNY Press an imprint of State University of New York Press |
| Format: | Hardback |
| Pagination: | 177 pages |
| Series: | SUNY Series in Psychoanalysis and Culture |
| Genres: |
Literary theory Literature: history and criticism |
Addresses ethical and aesthetic issues in three major works by Henry James.
What is the matter with the women in Henry James? In The Portrait of a Lady, The Wings of the Dove, and his short story "The Altar of the Dead," one woman returns to a monster of a husband, another dies rather than confront the truth of her lover's engagement, while yet another stakes her all on having a candle lit for a dead lover, only to promptly reject it. Exploring these strange choices, Sigi Jöttkandt argues that the singularity of these acts lies in their ethical nature, and that the ethical principle involved cannot be divorced from the question of aesthetics. She combines close readings of James with suggestive tours through Kantian aesthetics and set theory to uncover the aesthetic underpinning of the Lacanian ethical act, which has been largely overlooked in the current drive to discover a Cartesian origin for the subject as the subject of science.
Acting Beautifully features in the following genres: Literary theory, Literature: history and criticism
Acting Beautifully is available in Hardback
Acting Beautifully was written by Sigi Jottkandt and published by SUNY Press an imprint of State University of New York Press
Acting Beautifully has 177 pages
Yes it is part of SUNY Series in Psychoanalysis and Culture series