Description
Book SynopsisA work of political theory arguing that sensation—the taste of chocolate, the noise of a crowd, the visual impressions of film images—plays a crucial role of political life.
Trade Review“This smart and ambitious book contributes to a growing body of work in political theory that attempts to illuminate the connections among politics, culture, theory, and aesthetics, thereby broadening our understanding of the kinds of phenomena that count as political in contemporary multicultural politics. . . . [T]his is a very important book that offers valuable ways to better comprehend the imbrications of politics, culture, and aesthetics in contemporary multicultural democracy.” - Robert E. Watkins,
Perspectives on Politics“Davide Panagia develops a provocative contribution to democratic political theory. . . . His arguments are persuasive and refreshing. . . . [T]he work on the whole is rich and innovative.” - Parie Leung,
Canadian Literature“‘The first political act is also an aesthetic one.’ From this provocative postulate
The Political Life of Sensation develops a refreshingly innovative theory of the image for which the force of sensation figures as a force for democracy. As interruptive as it is instaurational, both dissensual and convivial, the power of the image is brought by Davide Panagia to a new and original theoretical expression. The book weaves seamlessly between penetrating analyses of key political and philosophical thinkers and of cultural formations from the piazzas of Italy to the Thanksgiving table. A forceful and convincing apologia for an ‘ethics of appearance.’”—
Brian Massumi, author of
Parables for the Virtual: Movement, Affect, Sensation“With this remarkable book, Davide Panagia chops off the head of political theory’s ruling narratocracy. The challenge he thereby raises is nothing less than a call for reconfiguring democracy as a realm of the senses.”—
Jodi Dean, author of
Democracy and Other Neoliberal Fantasies: Communicative Capitalism and Left Politics“Davide Panagia develops a provocative contribution to democratic political theory. . . . His arguments are persuasive and refreshing. . . . [T]he work on the whole is rich and innovative.” -- Parie Leung * Canadian Literature *
“This smart and ambitious book contributes to a growing body of work in political theory that attempts to illuminate the connections among politics, culture, theory, and aesthetics, thereby broadening our understanding of the kinds of phenomena that count as political in contemporary multicultural politics. . . . [T]his is a very important book that offers valuable ways to better comprehend the imbrications of politics, culture, and aesthetics in contemporary multicultural democracy.” -- Robert E. Watkins * Perspectives on Politics *
Table of ContentsIllustrations xi
Acknowledgments:
Grazie xiii
Prologue: Narratocracy and the Contours of Political Life 1
1. From
Nomos to
Nomad: Kant, Deleuze, and Rancière on Sensation 21
2. The Piazza, the
Edicola, and the Noise of the Utterance 45
3. Machiavelli's Theory of Sensation and Florence's
Vita Festiva 74
4. The Viewing Subject: Caravaggio, Bacon, and
The Ring 96
5. "You're Eating Too Fast!" Slow Food's Ethos of
Convivium 123
Epilogue: "The Photograph's Tell It All": On an Ethics of Appearance 149
Notes 155
Bibliography 189
Index 201
