Raids on Human Consciousness: Writing, Anarchism, and ViolenceHowever one looks at violence -- as an instrument of bureaucracy or ideology; as a product of racial, gender, or class antagonisms; or as the inevitable result of power politics -- it is an integral part of every social system and is one of the most pressing problems of our tortured century. In Raids on Human Consciousness Arthur Redding examines the contention that violence, be it the mass product of revolutionary uprising or a private sadomasochistic indulgence, may be taken to instill in those who commit it the capacity for radical change. Conscious that mainstream theory considers violence deviant, a departure from the normal equilibrium of social and aesthetic structures, while other critiques take it to be integral to any dynamic system, Redding begins with the anarchist inquiry into the relationship of violence to the imaginary representation of modern communities. He explores the "public images" of anarchism in literature and popular culture and emphasizes the diverse strategies by which modern writers encounter, derive, deflect, and manipulate fantasies of political violence. Redding recognizes that language fails when confronted with the extreme suffering of human bodies. Acknowledging that flesh is subject to war, torture, and everyday brutality -- violations to which language can never do justice -- he nonetheless finds it urgent to reclaim language on the far side of suffering. |
From inside the book
Results 1-3 of 19
calm tranquillity of Cambridge feels as if he were speaking a different language .
Thus the two " interpretive communities , ” if you will , that of the soldier and that of
the scholar , are counterpoised . Language , or linguistic norms , are violently ...
March wraps himself in an ironic speculation that shelters him from the remorse
he might feel at his own inaction . The magazine he produces , Every Other Week
, is an effort to bring together factions under the banner of culture . But culture ...
And it ' s because we can ' t help but feel some satisfaction seeing a brother , a
black man , get over on these people , on their system without playing by their
rules . No matter how much we have incorporated these rules as our own , we
know ...
What people are saying - Write a review
Other editions - View all
Raids on Human Consciousness: Writing, Anarchism, and Violence Arthur F. Redding No preview available - 1998 |
Common terms and phrases
References to this book
Bibliographic information
| Title | Raids on Human Consciousness: Writing, Anarchism, and Violence Cultural frames, framing culture Raids on Human Consciousness: Writing, Anarchism, and Violence, Arthur F. Redding |
| Author | Arthur F. Redding |
| Publisher | University of South Carolina Press, 1998 |
| Original from | the University of California |
| Digitized | 19 Jun 2008 |
| ISBN | 1570032300, 9781570032301 |
| Length | 275 pages |
| Subjects | › › Literary Criticism / American / General Literary Criticism / Semiotics & Theory |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |