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Freedom And Interpretation: The Oxford Amnesty Lectures
In this first volume of the Oxford Amnesty Lectures , seven leading literary figures Wayne C. Booth, HTlFne Cixous, Terry Eagleton, Frank Kermode, Julia Kristeva, Paul Ricoeur, and Edward W. Said explore the relationship between political freedom and modern conceptions of the self as they address questions of identity, nationalism, politics, ethics, poetic language, and freedom. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.
- GenresPhilosophy
Hardcover
First published April 1, 1993
21 people want to read
About the author
Barbara Johnson
16 books10 followersLibrarian note: There are other authors with the same name
Barbara Johnson was an American literary critic and translator. She was a Professor of English and Comparative Literature and the Fredric Wertham Professor of Law and Psychiatry in Society at Harvard University. Her scholarship incorporated a variety of structuralist and poststructuralist perspectives—including deconstruction, Lacanian psychoanalysis, and feminist theory—into a critical, interdisciplinary study of literature. As a scholar, teacher, and translator, Johnson helped make the theories of French philosopher Jacques Derrida accessible to English-speaking audiences in the United States at a time when they had just begun to gain recognition in France. Accordingly, she is often associated with the "Yale School" of academic literary criticism.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara...
Barbara Johnson was an American literary critic and translator. She was a Professor of English and Comparative Literature and the Fredric Wertham Professor of Law and Psychiatry in Society at Harvard University. Her scholarship incorporated a variety of structuralist and poststructuralist perspectives—including deconstruction, Lacanian psychoanalysis, and feminist theory—into a critical, interdisciplinary study of literature. As a scholar, teacher, and translator, Johnson helped make the theories of French philosopher Jacques Derrida accessible to English-speaking audiences in the United States at a time when they had just begun to gain recognition in France. Accordingly, she is often associated with the "Yale School" of academic literary criticism.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara...
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March 19, 2016I am simply saying that it is not possible, without inconsistency, to defend human rights with one hand and deconstruct the idea of humanity with the other. - Tzvetan Todorov
The above is quoted in Barbara Johnson's introduction, one where she confesses thinking about the subject of the lectures: "the consequences of the deconstruction of the self for the liberal tradition. Does the self as construed by liberal tradition still exist? If not, whose human rights are we defending?" She was musing over such and looked across the aisle on a plane and saw someone reading Needful Things by Stephen King. The Cixous and Said pieces were my favorites. Cixous in particular regards it as necessary to bear witness, to give form while acknowledging the contortions and interrogations involved in such a project: a discipline which can undermine itself. It is quaint to see in all these pieces from 1992 a universal opposition to torture. Things have certainly changed. Was it Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez who asserted that was torture possible in the absence of organ failure? Said -- in an excellent reading of Dr. Johnson -- widens the mirror to Mathew Arnold and the benevolent face of imperialism. This proved a welcome detour.
The above is quoted in Barbara Johnson's introduction, one where she confesses thinking about the subject of the lectures: "the consequences of the deconstruction of the self for the liberal tradition. Does the self as construed by liberal tradition still exist? If not, whose human rights are we defending?" She was musing over such and looked across the aisle on a plane and saw someone reading Needful Things by Stephen King. The Cixous and Said pieces were my favorites. Cixous in particular regards it as necessary to bear witness, to give form while acknowledging the contortions and interrogations involved in such a project: a discipline which can undermine itself. It is quaint to see in all these pieces from 1992 a universal opposition to torture. Things have certainly changed. Was it Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez who asserted that was torture possible in the absence of organ failure? Said -- in an excellent reading of Dr. Johnson -- widens the mirror to Mathew Arnold and the benevolent face of imperialism. This proved a welcome detour.
Displaying 1 of 1 review