Visual Analogy: Consciousness as the Art of Connecting by Barbara Maria Stafford

by Barbara Maria Stafford

Recuperating a topic once central to philosophy, theology, rhetoric, and aesthetics, this book explores the discovery of sameness in otherness. Analogy poses an intriguingly ancient and modern conundrum. How, in the face of cultural diversity, can a unique someone or something be perceived as like what it is not? This book is for anyone puzzled by why today, as Barbara Maria Stafford claims, "we possess no language for talking about resemblance, only an exaggerated awareness of difference." Well-designed images, Stafford argues, reveal the mind's intuitive leaps to connect known with unknown experience.

Paperback

First published September 24, 1999

Reviews

[Amanda · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is, hands down, the most confusing book I have ever read in my life. Stafford's writing style is nearly incoherent and incredibly pretentious. She adopts snippets of neuroscience and philosophy for her own use without fully understanding or explaining the concepts. Read at your own peril.

[Eric Lucente · Rating 1 out of 5]

Book is short, drags on a lot. For a title/cover so alluring and vague, the writing goes into nuance and detail that is scattered, often spanning multiple practices/fields. I found that I had to constantly delve into side-reading, and the book is not chunked or sectioned to the point where it is conducive to break from stafford’s thought processes. The author is clearly well studied, but I think this book could be communicated or translated way better.

[Karla Kitalong]

I have read this book before; I am fascinated by her ability to thread disparate topics together, and by her command of nuanced definitions and odd metaphors. She is an art historian. Many of her obscure references and supposedly illustrative plates and figures elude me. And yet, I'm planning on re-reading a couple of her other books, Good Looking and Echo Objects, before I shelve her permanently.

[Lauren Albert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally read 2001