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An incisive, unified account of modern poetry in the Western
tradition, arguing that the emergence of the lyric as a dominant
verse style is emblematic of the age of the individual. Between the
end of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth,
poetry in the West was transformed. The now-common idea that poetry
mostly corresponds with the lyric in the modern sense-a genre in
which a first-person speaker talks self-referentially-was foreign
to ancient, medieval, and Renaissance poetics. Yet in a relatively
short time, age-old habits gave way. Poets acquired unprecedented
freedom to write obscurely about private experiences, break rules
of meter and syntax, use new vocabulary, and entangle first-person
speakers with their own real-life identities. Poetry thus became
the most subjective genre of modern literature. On Modern Poetry
reconstructs this metamorphosis, combining theoretical reflections
with literary history and close readings of poets from Giacomo
Leopardi to Louise Gluck. Guido Mazzoni shows that the evolution of
modern poetry involved significant changes in the way poetry was
perceived, encouraged the construction of first-person poetic
personas, and dramatically altered verse style. He interprets these
developments as symptoms of profound historical and cultural shifts
in the modern period: the crisis of tradition, the rise of
individualism, the privileging of self-expression and its
paradoxes. Mazzoni also reflects on the place of poetry in mass
culture today, when its role has been largely assumed by popular
music. The result is a rich history of literary modernity and a
bold new account of poetry's transformations across centuries and
national traditions.
After two years of global pandemic, it is no surprise that
immunization is now at the center of our experience. From the
medicalization of politics to the disciplining of individuals, from
lockdowns to mass vaccination programs, contemporary societies seem
to be firmly embedded in a syndrome of immunity. To
understand the ambivalent effects of this development, it is
necessary to go back to its modern genesis, when the languages of
law, politics, and medicine began to merge into the biopolitical
regime we have been living under for some time. This regime places
a high priority on immunization and security: no security is more
important than health security. The Covid-19 pandemic has taken the
dynamic of immunization to a new level: for the first time in
history, we see societies seeking to achieve generalized immunity
in their entire populations through vaccination. This allows us to
glimpse the possibility of a “common immunity” that strengthens
the relation between community and immunity. The dramatic tensions
we have experienced in recent years between security and freedom,
norm and exception, power and existence, all refer to the complex
relationship between community and immunity, the decisive features
of which are reconstructed in this book. Building on the
prescient argument originally developed two decades ago
in Immunitas, Roberto Esposito demonstrates in this new book
how the pandemic and our responses to it have brought into sharp
relief the fundamental biopolitical conditions of our contemporary
societies.
As long as we care about suffering in the world, says political
philosopher Simona Forti, we are compelled to inquire into the
question of evil. But is the concept of "evil" still useful in a
postmodern landscape where absolute values have been leveled and
relativized by a historicist perspective? Given our current
unwillingness to judge others, what signposts remain to guide our
ethical behavior?
Surveying the nineteenth- and twentieth-century Western
philosophical debates on evil, Forti concludes that it is time to
leave behind what she calls "the Dostoevsky paradigm": the
dualistic vision of an omnipotent monster pitted against absolute,
helpless victims. No longer capable of grasping the normalization
of evil in today's world--whose structures of power have been
transformed--this paradigm has exhausted its explanatory force.
In its place, Forti offers a different genealogy of the
relationship between evil and power, one that finally calls into
question power's recurrent link to transgression. At the center of
contemporary evil she posits the passive attitude towards
rule-following, the need for normalcy, and the desire for obedience
nurtured by our contemporary mass democracies. In our times, she
contends, evil must be explored in tandem with our stubborn desire
to stay alive at all costs as much as with our deep need for
recognition: the new modern absolutes. A courageous book, "New
Demons" extends an original, inspiring call to ethical living in a
biopolitical age.
As long as we care about suffering in the world, says political
philosopher Simona Forti, we are compelled to inquire into the
question of evil. But is the concept of "evil" still useful in a
postmodern landscape where absolute values have been leveled and
relativized by a historicist perspective? Given our current
unwillingness to judge others, what signposts remain to guide our
ethical behavior?
Surveying the nineteenth- and twentieth-century Western
philosophical debates on evil, Forti concludes that it is time to
leave behind what she calls "the Dostoevsky paradigm": the
dualistic vision of an omnipotent monster pitted against absolute,
helpless victims. No longer capable of grasping the normalization
of evil in today's world--whose structures of power have been
transformed--this paradigm has exhausted its explanatory force.
In its place, Forti offers a different genealogy of the
relationship between evil and power, one that finally calls into
question power's recurrent link to transgression. At the center of
contemporary evil she posits the passive attitude towards
rule-following, the need for normalcy, and the desire for obedience
nurtured by our contemporary mass democracies. In our times, she
contends, evil must be explored in tandem with our stubborn desire
to stay alive at all costs as much as with our deep need for
recognition: the new modern absolutes. A courageous book, "New
Demons" extends an original, inspiring call to ethical living in a
biopolitical age.
The work of contemporary Italian thinkers, what Roberto Esposito
refers to as Italian Theory, is attracting increasing attention
around the world. This book explores the reasons for its growing
popularity, its distinguishing traits, and why people are turning
to these authors for answers to real-world issues and problems. The
approach he takes, in line with the keen historical consciousness
of Italian thinkers themselves, is a historical one. He offers
insights into the great "unphilosophical" philosophers of
life--poets, painters, politicians and revolutionaries, film-makers
and literary critics--who have made Italian thought, from its
beginnings, an "impure" thought. People like Machiavelli, Croce,
Gentile, and Gramsci were all compelled to fulfill important
political roles in the societies of their times. No wonder they
felt that the abstract vocabulary and concepts of pure philosophy
were inadequate to express themselves. Similarly, artists such as
Dante, Leonardo Da Vinci, Leopardi, or Pasolini all had to turn to
other disciplines outside philosophy in order to discuss and
grapple with the messy, constantly changing realities of their
lives.
For this very reason, says Esposito, because Italian thinkers have
always been deeply engaged with the concrete reality of life
(rather than closed up in the introspective pursuits of traditional
continental philosophy) and because they have looked for the
answers of today in the origins of their own historical roots,
Italian theory is a "living thought." Hence the relevance or
actuality that it holds for us today.
Continuing in this tradition, the work of Roberto Esposito is
distinguished by its interdisciplinary breadth. In this book, he
passes effortlessly from literary criticism to art history, through
political history and philosophy, in an expository style that
welcomes non-philosophers to engage in the most pressing problems
of our times. As in all his works, Esposito is inclusive rather
than exclusive; in being so, he celebrates the affirmative potency
of life.
The work of contemporary Italian thinkers, what Roberto Esposito
refers to as Italian Theory, is attracting increasing attention
around the world. This book explores the reasons for its growing
popularity, its distinguishing traits, and why people are turning
to these authors for answers to real-world issues and problems. The
approach he takes, in line with the keen historical consciousness
of Italian thinkers themselves, is a historical one. He offers
insights into the great unphilosophical philosophers of
lifeOCopoets, painters, politicians and revolutionaries,
film-makers and literary criticsOCowho have made Italian thought,
from its beginnings, an impure thought. People like Machiavelli,
Croce, Gentile, and Gramsci were all compelled to fulfill important
political roles in the societies of their times. No wonder they
felt that the abstract vocabulary and concepts of pure philosophy
were inadequate to express themselves. Similarly, artists such as
Dante, Leonardo Da Vinci, Leopardi, or Pasolini all had to turn to
other disciplines outside philosophy in order to discuss and
grapple with the messy, constantly changing realities of their
lives.
For this very reason, says Esposito, because Italian thinkers have
always been deeply engaged with the concrete reality of life
(rather than closed up in the introspective pursuits of traditional
continental philosophy) and because they have looked for the
answers of today in the origins of their own historical roots,
Italian theory is a living thought. Hence the relevance or
actuality that it holds for us today.
Continuing in this tradition, the work of Roberto Esposito is
distinguished by its interdisciplinary breadth. In this book, he
passes effortlessly from literary criticism to art history, through
political history and philosophy, in an expository style that
welcomes non-philosophers to engage in the most pressing problems
of our times. As in all his works, Esposito is inclusive rather
than exclusive; in being so, he celebrates the affirmative potency
of life.
Philosophers have long distinguished between appearance and
reality, and the opposition between a supposedly deceptive surface
and a more profound truth is deeply rooted in Western culture. At a
time of obsession with self-representation, when politics is
enmeshed with spectacle and social and economic forces are
intensely aestheticized, philosophy remains moored in traditional
dichotomies: being versus appearing, interiority versus
exteriority, authenticity versus alienation. Might there be more to
appearance than meets the eye? In this strikingly original book,
Barbara Carnevali offers a philosophical examination of the roles
that appearances play in social life. While Western metaphysics and
morals have predominantly disdained appearances and expelled them
from their domain, Carnevali invites us to look at society, ancient
to contemporary, as an aesthetic phenomenon. The ways in which we
appear in public and the impressions we make in terms of images,
sounds, smells, and sensations are discerned by other people's
senses and assessed according to their taste; this helps shape our
ways of being and the world around us. Carnevali shows that an
understanding of appearances is necessary to grasp the dynamics of
interaction, recognition, and power in which we live-and to avoid
being dominated by them. Anchored in philosophy and traversing
sociology, art history, literature, and popular culture, Social
Appearances develops new theoretical and conceptual tools for
today's most urgent critical tasks.
After two years of global pandemic, it is no surprise that
immunization is now at the center of our experience. From the
medicalization of politics to the disciplining of individuals, from
lockdowns to mass vaccination programs, contemporary societies seem
to be firmly embedded in a syndrome of immunity. To
understand the ambivalent effects of this development, it is
necessary to go back to its modern genesis, when the languages of
law, politics, and medicine began to merge into the biopolitical
regime we have been living under for some time. This regime places
a high priority on immunization and security: no security is more
important than health security. The Covid-19 pandemic has taken the
dynamic of immunization to a new level: for the first time in
history, we see societies seeking to achieve generalized immunity
in their entire populations through vaccination. This allows us to
glimpse the possibility of a “common immunity” that strengthens
the relation between community and immunity. The dramatic tensions
we have experienced in recent years between security and freedom,
norm and exception, power and existence, all refer to the complex
relationship between community and immunity, the decisive features
of which are reconstructed in this book. Building on the
prescient argument originally developed two decades ago
in Immunitas, Roberto Esposito demonstrates in this new book
how the pandemic and our responses to it have brought into sharp
relief the fundamental biopolitical conditions of our contemporary
societies.
Philosophers have long distinguished between appearance and
reality, and the opposition between a supposedly deceptive surface
and a more profound truth is deeply rooted in Western culture. At a
time of obsession with self-representation, when politics is
enmeshed with spectacle and social and economic forces are
intensely aestheticized, philosophy remains moored in traditional
dichotomies: being versus appearing, interiority versus
exteriority, authenticity versus alienation. Might there be more to
appearance than meets the eye? In this strikingly original book,
Barbara Carnevali offers a philosophical examination of the roles
that appearances play in social life. While Western metaphysics and
morals have predominantly disdained appearances and expelled them
from their domain, Carnevali invites us to look at society, ancient
to contemporary, as an aesthetic phenomenon. The ways in which we
appear in public and the impressions we make in terms of images,
sounds, smells, and sensations are discerned by other people's
senses and assessed according to their taste; this helps shape our
ways of being and the world around us. Carnevali shows that an
understanding of appearances is necessary to grasp the dynamics of
interaction, recognition, and power in which we live-and to avoid
being dominated by them. Anchored in philosophy and traversing
sociology, art history, literature, and popular culture, Social
Appearances develops new theoretical and conceptual tools for
today's most urgent critical tasks.
The debate on "political theology" that ran throughout the
twentieth century has reached its end, but the ultimate meaning of
the notion continues to evade us. Despite all the attempts to
resolve the issue, we still speak its language-we remain in its
horizon. The reason for this, says Roberto Esposito, lies in the
fact that political theology is neither a concept nor an event;
rather, it is the pivot around which the machine of Western
civilization has revolved for more than 2,000 years. At its heart
stands the juncture between universalism and exclusion, unity and
separation: the tendency of the Two to make itself into One by
subordinating one part to the domination of the other. All the
philosophical and political categories that we use, starting with
the Roman and Christian notion of "the person," continue to
reproduce this exclusionary dispositif. To take our departure from
political theology, then-the task of contemporary philosophy-we
must radically revise our conceptual lexicon. Only when thought has
been returned to its rightful "place"-connected to the human
species as a whole rather than to individuals-will we be able to
escape from the machine that has imprisoned our lives for far too
long.
The novel is the most important form of Western art. It aims to
represent the totality of life; it is the flagship that literature
sends out against the systematic thought of science and philosophy.
Indebted to Lukacs and Bakhtin, to Auerbach and Ian Watt, Guido
Mazzoni's Theory of the Novel breaks new ground, building a
historical understanding of how the novel became the modern book of
life: one of the best representations of our experience of the
world. The genre arose during a long metamorphosis of narrative
forms that took place between 1550 and 1800. By the nineteenth
century it had come to encompass a corpus of texts distinguished by
their freedom from traditional formal boundaries and by the
particularity of their narratives. Mazzoni explains that modern
novels consist of stories told in any way whatsoever, by narrators
who exist-like us-as contingent beings within time and space. They
therefore present an interpretation, not a copy, of the world.
Novels grant new importance to the stories of ordinary men and
women and allow readers to step into other lives and other versions
of truth. As Theory of the Novel makes clear, this art form
narrates an epoch and a society in which individual experiences do
not converge but proliferate, in which the common world has
fragmented into a plurality of small, local worlds, each absolute
in its particularity.
The debate on "political theology" that ran throughout the
twentieth century has reached its end, but the ultimate meaning of
the notion continues to evade us. Despite all the attempts to
resolve the issue, we still speak its language-we remain in its
horizon. The reason for this, says Roberto Esposito, lies in the
fact that political theology is neither a concept nor an event;
rather, it is the pivot around which the machine of Western
civilization has revolved for more than 2,000 years. At its heart
stands the juncture between universalism and exclusion, unity and
separation: the tendency of the Two to make itself into One by
subordinating one part to the domination of the other. All the
philosophical and political categories that we use, starting with
the Roman and Christian notion of "the person," continue to
reproduce this exclusionary dispositif. To take our departure from
political theology, then-the task of contemporary philosophy-we
must radically revise our conceptual lexicon. Only when thought has
been returned to its rightful "place"-connected to the human
species as a whole rather than to individuals-will we be able to
escape from the machine that has imprisoned our lives for far too
long.
In the aftermath of national unification in the 1860s, the Italian
army was tasked with molding generations of men from warring
regions and different social strata into obedient citizens of a
centralized state. Integrating large numbers of the educated middle
classes into the young kingdom's armed forces proved decisive in
establishing the army as the 'main school' and backbone for mass
nationalization. Lorenzo Benadusi examines the intersection of
Italian military and civil society over the last century as they
coalesced in the figure of the gentleman-officer-an idealized image
of an altruistic, charming, and competent ruling class that could
influence the choices, values, and behavior of the 'new
Italians.'Respectability and Violence traces the relationship
between civic virtues and military values from the
post-Risorgimento period through the end of World War I, when the
trauma of trench warfare made it necessary to again redefine ideas
of chivalry and manliness and to accept violence as a necessary
tool in defense of society and state. The language of conflict and
attitudes about war forged in these decades-characterized by
patriotism, heroism, and sacrifice-shaped the cultured bourgeoise
into loyalists who ushered in Italy's transition to a powerful
Fascist political system. This unique study of the officer is
crucial for understanding the military, social, and political
history of Italy.
"The Monster in the Machine" tracks the ways in which human beings
were defined in contrast to supernatural and demonic creatures
during the time of the Scientific Revolution. Zakiya Hanafi
recreates scenes of Italian life and culture from the late
sixteenth to the early eighteenth centuries to show how monsters
were conceptualized at this particular locale and historical
juncture--a period when the sacred was being supplanted by a
secular, decidedly nonmagical way of looking at the world.
Noting that the word "monster" is derived from the Latin for
"omen" or "warning," Hanafi explores the monster's early identity
as a portent or messenger from God. Although monsters have always
been considered "whatever we are not," they gradually were
tranformed into mechanical devices when new discoveries in science
and medicine revealed the mechanical nature of the human body. In
analyzing the historical literature of monstrosity, magic, and
museum collections, Hanafi uses contemporary theory and the
philosophy of technology to illuminate the timeless significance of
the monster theme. She elaborates the association between women and
the monstrous in medical literature and sheds new light on the work
of Vico--particularly his notion of the "conatus"--by relating it
to Vico's own health. By explicating obscure and fascinating texts
from such disciplines as medicine and poetics, she invites the
reader to the piazzas and pulpits of seventeenth-century Naples,
where poets, courtiers, and Jesuit preachers used grotesque figures
of speech to captivate audiences with their monstrous wit.
Drawing from a variety of texts from medicine, moral philosophy,
and poetics, Hanafi's guided tour through this baroque museum of
ideas will interest readers in comparative literature, Italian
literature, history of ideas, history of science, art history,
poetics, women's studies, and philosophy.
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