Vision in Context

Vision and the gaze are key issues in the analysis of racism, sexism and ethnocentrism. In recent radical theory, generally, and French theory in particular, vision has been seen as a means of control. But this view is often unnuanced. It bypasses questions such as: Why is it that contemporary theories have been so critical of vision, and generous towards listening (in psychoanalysis) and language (in philosophy)? This collection of original essays brings together historical studies and contemporary theoretical perspectives on vision. The historical papers focus in turn on Ancient Greece, medieval theology, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment and the nineteenth century. These historical studies are themselves thoroughly informed by poststructuralist theory. They provide a rigorous background for several new, exciting articles on vision and its bearings for feminism, race, sexual orientation, film and art. This collection is the first of its kind in juxtaposing historical and contemporary Chapter 1 Vision in Context: Reflections and Refractions, MartinJay; Part 1 Historical Perspectives; Chapter 2 Refracting Classical Vision: Changing Cultures of Viewing, SimonGoldhill; Chapter 3 Sight and Vision in Medieval Christian Thought, JanetSoskice; Chapter 4 The Wit of the Letter: Holbein's Lacan, TomConley; Chapter 5 The Visibility of Visuality, Peterde Bolla; Chapter 6 “;Authentic Tidings of Invisible Things”: Vision and the Invisible in the Later Nineteenth Century, GillianBeer; Part 2 Contemporary Perspectives; Chapter 7 Division of the Gaze, or, Remarks on the Color and Tenor of Contemporary “;Theory”, MelvilleStephen; Chapter 8 Imaginary Identity: Space, Gender, Nation, HelgaGeyer-Ryan; Chapter 9 Illuminating Passion: Irigaray's Transfiguration of Night, CathrynVasseleu; Chapter 10 The Gaze in the Closet, MiekeBal; Chapter 11 The Gaze of Inversion: The Lesbian as Visionary, Renée C.Hoogland; Chapter 12 The Homosocial Gaze According to Ian McEwan's, Ernstvan Alphen; Chapter 13 “;Other's Others”: Spectatorship and Difference, IritRogoff; Chapter 14 “;Father, Can't You See I'm Filming?”, ParveenAdams; Chapter 15 “;The Contexts of Vision” from a Specific Standpoint, TeresaBrennan;