An edition of The body in pain (1985)

The Body in Pain

The Making and Unmaking of the World

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  • 5.0 (1 rating) ·
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Last edited by ImportBot
December 19, 2023 | History
An edition of The body in pain (1985)

The Body in Pain

The Making and Unmaking of the World

  • 5.0 (1 rating) ·
  • 28 Want to read
  • 1 Have read

Part philosophical meditation, part cultural critique, this work explores the nature of physical suffering. Elaine Scarry bases her study on a wide range of sources: literature and art, medical case histories, documents on torture compiled by Amnesty International, legal transcripts of personal injury trials, and military and strategic writings by such figures as Clausewitz, Churchill, Liddell Hart, and Henry Kissinger. Scarry begins with the fact of pain's inexpressibility. Not only is physical pain difficult to describe in words, it also actively destroys language, reducing sufferers in the most extreme cases to an inarticulate state of cries and moans. Scarry goes on to analyse the political ramifications of deliberately inflicted pain, specifically in the cases of warfare and torture, and she demonstrates how political regimes use the power of physical pain to attack and break down the sufferer's sense of self. Finally she turns to examples of artistic and cultural activity; actions achieved in the face of pain and difficulty.

Publish Date
Language
English
Pages
396

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Previews available in: English

Edition Availability
Cover of: The Body in Pain
The Body in Pain: The Making and Unmaking of the World
April 23, 1987, Oxford University Press, USA
in English
Cover of: The body in pain
The body in pain: the making and unmaking of the world
1985, Oxford University Press
in English

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Book Details


First Sentence

"NOWHERE is the sadistic potential of a language built on agency so visible as in torture."

Classifications

Library of Congress
BF515, BJ1409 .S35 1987

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL7386477M
Internet Archive
bodyinpainmaking0000scar
ISBN 10
0195049969
ISBN 13
9780195049961
LCCN
gb88034283
OCLC/WorldCat
18015398
Library Thing
27146
Goodreads
118287

Excerpts

NOWHERE is the sadistic potential of a language built on agency so visible as in torture.
added anonymously.

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History

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December 19, 2023 Edited by ImportBot import existing book
December 12, 2023 Edited by MARC Bot import existing book
December 10, 2023 Edited by MARC Bot import existing book
August 6, 2021 Edited by New York Times Bestsellers Bot Add NYT review links
December 8, 2009 Created by ImportBot add works page