Miniature books, eighteenth-century novels, Tom Thumb weddings, tall tales, and objects of tourism and nostalgia: this diverse group of cultural forms is the subject of On Longing, a fascinating analysis of the ways in which everyday objects are narrated to animate or realize certain versions of the world. Originally published in 1984 (Johns Hopkins University Press), and now available in paperback for the first time, this highly original book draws on insights from semiotics and from psychoanalytic, feminist, and marxist criticism. Addressing the relations of language to experience, the body to scale, and narratives to objects, Susan Stewart looks at the "miniature" as a metaphor for interiority and at the "gigantic" as an exaggeration of aspects of the exterior. In the final part of her essay Stewart examines the ways in which the "souvenir" and the "collection" are objects mediating experience in time and space.
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"Stewart's work provides an oasis in contemporary criticism, a place where theory and poetry, systematic reflection and the essayistic plunge into particular cases, come together in a refreshing synthesis."—W. J. T. Mitchell
"The historical richness, psychological insight and sociological subtlety of the analyses Stewart develops in On Longing are exemplary for cultural studies."—Barbara Herrnstein Smith
About the Author
Susan Stewart, Professor of English at Temple University, is the author of Crimes of Writing: Problems in the Containment of Representation and Nonsense: Aspects of Intertextuality in Folklore and Literature.
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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This wonderful work has been indispensible in my research into collections and souvenirs. Stewart's ability to look at the long history of visual culture and bring in such disparate elements as Pop art and miniature manuscripts makes for a thoughtful and reasoned argument. Particularly notable is her need to cross barriers of medium, writing on everything from children's stories to painting to Tom Thumb weddings. An engaging read that rarely falls victim to theoretical rhetoric. The world needs more writers like Stewart who take their time, slowly unfolding their argument, surveying all aspects of culture, giving high and low culture equal weight.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book has some truly enlightening chapters on the meaning and implications of Souvenirs, which are really useful in conceptual research. I haven't read the whole thing though.
7 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I might add to the previous review, that this book is also of great interest for those that are interested in the study of objects and collections. Objects in this text are analysed in the miniature and the gigantic revealing their symbolic meanings and values. the analysis on the collection and the souvenir are also fantastic. Being a poet Stewart's book is a pleasure to read.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Banter
I'm an avid and intelligent reader of all things to do with art and collecting, but this left me cold. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Moira Kelly
a great book for artists
On Longing is sensitively written and a must read for anyone interested in art or literature especially artists and writers. Read more
Published on April 2, 2000
Inside This Book
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Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs):
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aesthetic size, système des objets, miniature book, miniature object, earth art Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Tom Thumb, New York, Middle Ages, North American, Eiffel Tower, Febold Feboldson, John Cheever, New World, Pecos Bill New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
aesthetic size, système des objets, miniature book, miniature object, earth art Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Tom Thumb, New York, Middle Ages, North American, Eiffel Tower, Febold Feboldson, John Cheever, New World, Pecos Bill New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 100
books:
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100
books
cite this book:
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- The Anatomy of Melancholy (New York Review Books Classics) by Robert Burton on 4 pages
- Semiotics of Poetry (Advances in Semiotics) by Michael Riffaterre on 4 pages
- The Return of the Twelves by Pauline Clarke on page 55, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Impressions of Africa (French Surrealism) by Raymond Roussel in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
- Art and Illusion: A Study in the Psychology of Pictorial Representation (v. 6) by E.H. Gombrich in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
See all 100 books this book cites
- Public Places, Private Journeys: Ethnography, Entertainment, and the Tourist Gaze by Ellen Strain on 5 pages
- Curiosity: A Cultural History of Early Modern Inquiry by Barbara M. Benedict on 4 pages
- The Genuine Article: Race, Mass Culture, and American Literary Manhood (New Americanists) by Paul Gilmore on 4 pages
- Cinderella's Sisters: A Revisionist History of Footbinding (Philip A. Lilienthal Asian Studies Imprint) by Dorothy Ko in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
- Ethics and Nostalgia in the Contemporary Novel by John J. Su on page 1, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
See all 100 books citing this book
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