Rewriting the Self: Histories from the Renaissance to the Present - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0415142806 ISBN 13: 9780415142809

Publisher: Routledge, 1996

Synopsis

Rewriting the Self is an exploration of ideas of the self in the western cultural tradition from the Renaissance to the Present. The contributors analyse differing religious, philosophical, psychological, political, psychoanalytical and literary models of personal identity. They examine these models from a number of viewpoints, including the history of ideas, contemporary gender politics, and post-modernist literary theory.
Rewriting the Self offers a challenge to the received version of the 'ascent of western man'. Lively and controversial, the book broaches big questions in an accessible way.
Rewriting the Self arises from a seminar series held at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London. The contributors include prominent academics from a range of disciplines.

About this title

Review:

"The collection is full of provocative insights and is capped with two outstanding pieces...."
-"Punch, 1/10/97
"Roy Porter's stellar volume puts together a wide range of selves in its search for the self. A host of distinguished authors question the construction of the very idea of the self in illuminating detail. Each chapter provides another turning to the question until the reader starts to imagine him/herself as a fragmented series of selves. Readers beware! There are more selves to your self than meets the eye!."
-Sander L. Gilman, University of Chicago
""Rewriting the Self challenges some of our most deeply held myths about the individual in the West...Roy Porter has assembled an all-star cast of historians and critics here, and his introduction to "Rewriting the Self moves us easily through the shoals of an important intellectual journey."
-Natalie Zemon Davis, University of Toronto

From the Back Cover:

The fundamental issue of identity has been endlessly explored by philosophers, poets, priests, psychologists, and men and women generally. Whilst the question has stayed the same, the answers offered have changed over time. This book examines changing notions of selfhood from a historical perspective. The overarching perception of Rewriting the Self is that the received version of the 'ascent of Western man' needs to be rethought in the light of the critical cultural analyses of today. Rereadings are offered of classic texts like those of Descartes, but wider perspectives are also presented. These assess the discursive construction of the self in the light of political, technological and social changes.

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0415142806
• ISBN 13: 9780415142809
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 296
• Editor: Porter Roy