The similarities between madness and modernism are striking: defiance of convention, nihilism, extreme relativism, distortions of time, strange transformations of self, and much more.
In this revised edition of a now classic work, Louis Sass, a clinical psychologist, offers a radically new vision of schizophrenia, comparing it with the works of such artists and writers as Kafka, Beckett, and Duchamp, and considering the ideas of philosophers including Nietzsche, Heidegger, Foucault, and Derrida. Here is a highly original portrait of the world of insanity, along with a provocative commentary on modernist and postmodernist culture.
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780198779292
Number of pages: 560
Weight: 826 g
Dimensions: 234 x 156 x 29 mm
Review from previous edition "A marvelously against-the-grain book... A startling look at the strange connections between the most private workings of our minds and the most public." - Clifford Geertz, author of The Interpretation of Cultures
"In this fascinating book... Sass sets out in largely uncharted directions... Displaying an impressive command of philosophical, literary and clinical literature on subjects of enormous complexity...[he] arrives at some highly original and profoundly disquieting insights." - Brigitte Berger, New York Times Book Review
"An intellectual tour de force... A landmark contribution to the understanding of psychosis." - Sidney J. Blatt, Yale University, USA
"This marvelous book... provides the richest description of the schizophrenic's inner world since R.D. Laing's deservedly classic The Divided Self... An inspired documentation of the interrelationships of modernism, schizophrenia, and our current cultural life." - Richard Restak, M.D., Washington Post Book World
"A monumental, exciting, and troubling book, a new landmark in the study of the modern era." - Kenneth Baker, San Francisco Chronicle
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