Description
Book SynopsisDrawing on an eclectic range of texts and figures, from the Greek Cynics to Tori Amos, Nick Salvato finds that embarrassment, laziness, slowness, cynicism, and digressiveness can paradoxically enable alternative modes of intellectual production.
Trade Review"Through an often breathtaking range of cultural readings, Salvato (performing and media arts, Cornell) offers new ways to think about traits that are normally seen as obstructions or impediments to creative or scholarly projects. . . . here is little doubt that graduate students and early-career academics, especially those in the humanities, will find this book a source of affirmation, encouragement, and transformation. Essential. All readers." -- M. Uebel * Choice *
"Whether identifying as academics or intellectuals, yoga instructors or closet fans of Tori Amos, readers of
Obstruction are certain to discover that there is immense pleasure and great value to be gained from an absorptive encounter with Nick Salvato’s embarrassing, lazy, slow, cynical, digressive act of scholarly labour. As
Obstruction reminds us: if it’s broke, don’t fix it." -- Amy Holzapfel * Modern Drama *
"Whether laziness or cynicism, it seems there is a way to utilize such obstructions for creativity and productivity, but only by embracing them as offering valuable constraints, and not by treating them as presenting obstacles to dissolve or overcome.
Obstruction makes a clear argument for the use value of affect for cognitive activity, especially, creativity in thinking." -- Karen Simecek * Year's Work in Critical and Cultural Theory *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments vii
Introduction. Trafficking in Five Obstructions 1
1. Embarrassment 33
2. Laziness 63
3. Slowness 95
4. Cynicism 127
5. Digressiveness 157
Conclusion. Sober Futurity 193
Notes 205
Bibliography 233
Index 251
