Defacement

Public Secrecy and the Labor of the Negative

By: Michael Taussig

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Hardcover | 1 September 1999

At a Glance

Hardcover
328 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
24.13 x 15.88 x 2.54

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$378.75

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Defacement asks what happens when something precious is despoiled. It begins with the notion that such activity is attractive in its very repulsion, and that it creates something sacred even in the most secular of societies and circumstances. In specifying the human face as the ideal type for thinking through such violation, this book raises the issue of secrecy as the depth that seems to surface with the tearing of surface. This surfacing is made all the more subtle and ingenious, not to mention everyday, by the deliberately partial exposures involved in “the public secret”—defined as what is generally known but, for one reason or another, cannot easily be articulated.

Arguing that this sort of knowledge (“knowing what not to know”) is the most powerful form of social knowledge, Taussig works with ideas and motifs from Nietzsche, William Burroughs, Elias Canetti, Georges Bataille, and the ethnography of unmasking in so-called primitive societies in order to extend his earlier work on mimesis and transgression. Underlying his concern with defacement and the public secret is the search for a mode of truth telling that unmasks, but only to reenchant, thereby underlining Walter Benjamin’s notion that “truth is not a matter of exposure of the secret, but a revelation that does justice to it.”

Industry Reviews

"This volume [which asks what happens when something precious is despoiled] is vintage Taussig... It has the hallmarks of his other works - originality, unusual associations among diverse sources, provocative and definitely contestable interpretations of classic theoretical texts, and a generally intimate, fascinated style of communicating with his readers." - George Marcus, Rice University

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You Can Find This Book In

Non-Fiction Sociology & Anthropology Anthropology Social & Cultural Anthropology, Ethnography Society & Culture Ethical Issues & Debates Ethical Issues of Censorship Social Services & Welfare Crime & Criminology

Prologue	p. 1
Sacrilege	p. 9
Sacrilege	p. 11
Cement Fondue	p. 23
Hegel's Death Space	p. 40
Secrecy Magnifies Reality	p. 47
The Law of the Base	p. 49
Secrecy Magnifies Reality	p. 56
Pity Those Weak in Lying	p. 59
Death in Venice	p. 78
Schopenhauer's Beard	p. 95
In That Other Time: Isla Grande	p. 99
Isla Grande	p. 101
The Massacre of the Women	p. 109
Instant Theater	p. 118
Selk'nam Unmasking	p. 127
Yamana Unmasking: Crossing the Face	p. 137
"The Extraordinary Ciexaus State of Mind"	p. 149
Finding the Secret	p. 157
A Joyous Thing with Maggots at the Center	p. 169
The Hard Core of Culture	p. 183
Repository of Cosmic Power	p. 196
Breath of Empty Space	p. 206
Destruction and Self-Destruction	p. 215
The Face is the Evidence That Makes Evidence Possible	p. 221
Infinity and Disproportion: Crossing the Face	p. 223
The Abduction of Montaigne	p. 226
Strike and Zoomorphic Physiognomics	p. 230
The Disorganization of the "Organization of Mimesis": The Subcomandante Unmasked	p. 236
Refacement: A History of Reading	p. 249
Unmasking and Proliferation	p. 256
The Secret of the Gift	p. 265
The Secret of the Gift	p. 267
Notes	p. 275
Bibliography	p. 293
Index	p. 305
Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved.

Defacement

Public Secrecy and the Labor of the Negative

At a Glance

Hardcover

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

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