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. |
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... less with the specific class to which it was addressed ( already dissolute , in class terms , as Sorel knew quite well ) than with the less strongly affiliated among the European intellectuals and revolutionaries , who had lived through ...
... less amiable manifestations . This is unfortunate . It lessens the usefulness of the word by making it a means of denunciation rather than of under- standing . -Thorstein Veblen , " On Sabotage " CHAOS AND CONTROL Clearly , the complex ...
... less as a leveler ( he fears insurrection when it threatens to reduce everyone to the same level ) than an escalator on which he might be lifted to the new aristocracy . He finds himself , a " natural " gentleman , unnaturally trapped ...
Contents
Satire Georges Sorel | 30 |
Anarchism and | 71 |
Violence and Modernism | 117 |
Copyright | |
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Raids on Human Consciousness: Writing, Anarchism, and Violence Arthur F. Redding No preview available - 1998 |