Description
Book SynopsisNoted cultural critic Ilan Stavans and artist ADÁL analyze the selfie and its role in contemporary life by exploring it in the context of the history of Western self-portraiture, mythology, literature, art, and philosophy.
Trade Review"Rather than seeing selfies as a symptom of modern decay and pathology, Stavans encourages us to see the explosion of selfies as a kind of collective art project, in which everyone’s individualism squeezes into the frame next to everybody else’s individualism." -- Noah Berlatsky * Quartz *
"A book of absolute contemporary relevance,
I Love My Selfie reminds us that nothing has ever been as hard as having a self, and that perhaps to better be true to it, one has to learn to conceal it, in a game of hide and seek that here gains a political dimension." -- Carlos Fonseca * TLS *
"Stavans’ key intuition that selfies might be understood in dialogue with self-portraiture is significant, as putting pressure on the definitions of selfies and self-portraiture—whether in the present moment or across the history of photography—can yield rich insights." -- Nicole Erin Morse * boundary 2 *
Table of Contents1. Chillin' 1
2. The Plight of Narcissus 10
3. "Decisive Moments" 18
4. Out of Focus 28
Go F_ck Your Selfie: A Portfolio / ADÁL 39
5. Alone with Others 91
6. Rembrandt's Instamatic 98
7. Tropic Noir 113
8. And Then Comes Darkness 122
Acknowledgments 129
Index 131
