W. J. T. Mitchell

An insightful reconsideration of our historical moment seen through the lens of madness In Seeing Through Madness, W. J. T. Mitchell pursues the idea of “putting madness to work” by transforming it from an individual affliction—an illness to be treated—into a critical framework for understanding the human condition. The human species is now a danger to itself and others—the very definition of mental disorder in most societies. Therefore, it is time, Mitchell argues, for a fundamental reconsideration of madness, not only as a subject in media and the arts but more fundamentally as a “critical optic” on our historical moment. It is time to see through madness in all its variations, to see by means of it as a template for understanding, and to see it through to some form of wisdom. While drawing a sense of urgency from Michell’s conviction that the whole world is experiencing a widespread political madness, the book specifically focuses on American psychoses and collective disorders, not least the country’s delusional exceptionalism. Incisive, eclectic, and occasionally enraged, Mitchell’s essays are the guide we need to see us through crazy times.

An insightful reconsideration of our historical moment seen through the lens of madness In Seeing Through Madness, W. J. T. Mitchell pursues the idea of “putting madness to work” by transforming it from an individual affliction—an illness to be treated—into a critical framework for understanding the human condition. The human species is now a danger to itself and others—the very definition of mental disorder in most societies. Therefore, it is time, Mitchell argues, for a fundamental reconsideration of madness, not only as a subject in media and the arts but more fundamentally as a “critical optic” on our historical moment. It is time to see through madness in all its variations, to see by means of it as a template for understanding, and to see it through to some form of wisdom. While drawing a sense of urgency from Michell’s conviction that the whole world is experiencing a widespread political madness, the book specifically focuses on American psychoses and collective disorders, not least the country’s delusional exceptionalism. Incisive, eclectic, and occasionally enraged, Mitchell’s essays are the guide we need to see us through crazy times.

Now that supposedly distinguishing marks of humanity, from reasoning to tool use, have been found in other species, how can we justify discriminating against nonhuman animals solely on the basis of their species? And how must cultural studies and critical practices change to do justice to "others" who are not human? In "Animal Rites", Cary Wolfe examines contemporary notions of humanism, ethics and animals by reconstructing a little known but crucial underground tradition of theorizing the animal from Wittgenstein, Cavell and Lyotard to Levinas, Derrida, Zizek, Maturana and Varela. Through detailed readings of how discourses of race, sexuality, colonialism and animality interact in 20th-century American culture - Hemingway's fiction, the film "The Silence of the Lambs", Michael Crichton's novel "Congo" - Wolfe explores what it would mean, in theory and critical practice, to take seriously "the question of the animal". A pathbreaking contribution to discussions of posthumanism, "Animal Rites" should interest readers in a wide range of fields, from science and literature to philsosophy and ethics, from animal rights and ecology to literary theory and criticism.

Now that supposedly distinguishing marks of humanity, from reasoning to tool use, have been found in other species, how can we justify discriminating against nonhuman animals solely on the basis of their species? And how must cultural studies and critical practices change to do justice to "others" who are not human? In "Animal Rites", Cary Wolfe examines contemporary notions of humanism, ethics and animals by reconstructing a little known but crucial underground tradition of theorizing the animal from Wittgenstein, Cavell and Lyotard to Levinas, Derrida, Zizek, Maturana and Varela. Through detailed readings of how discourses of race, sexuality, colonialism and animality interact in 20th-century American culture - Hemingway's fiction, the film "The Silence of the Lambs", Michael Crichton's novel "Congo" - Wolfe explores what it would mean, in theory and critical practice, to take seriously "the question of the animal". A pathbreaking contribution to discussions of posthumanism, "Animal Rites" should interest readers in a wide range of fields, from science and literature to philsosophy and ethics, from animal rights and ecology to literary theory and criticism.