Sensible ecstasy : mysticism, sexual difference, and the demands of history / Amy Hollywood.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hollywood, Amy M., 1963-

Series:

Religion and postmodernism.

Religion and postmodernism

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mysticism--Psychology--History.

Mysticism.

Women mystics--Psychology--History.

Women mystics.

Philosophy, French--20th century.

Philosophy, French.

Psychoanalysis and religion--France--History--20th century.

Psychoanalysis and religion.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xv, 371 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2002.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Sensible Ecstasy investigates the attraction to excessive forms of mysticism among twentieth-century French intellectuals and demonstrates the work that the figure of the mystic does for these thinkers. With special attention to Georges Bataille, Simone de Beauvoir, Jacques Lacan, and Luce Irigaray, Amy Hollywood asks why resolutely secular, even anti-Christian intellectuals are drawn to affective, bodily, and widely denigrated forms of mysticism. What is particular to these thinkers, Hollywood reveals, is their attention to forms of mysticism associated with women. They regard mystics such as Angela of Foligno, Hadewijch, and Teresa of Avila not as emotionally excessive or escapist, but as unique in their ability to think outside of the restrictive oppositions that continue to afflict our understanding of subjectivity, the body, and sexual difference. Mystics such as these, like their twentieth-century descendants, bridge the gaps between action and contemplation, emotion and reason, and body and soul, offering new ways of thinking about language and the limits of representation.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

Introduction

1. Georges Bataille, Mystique

2. (En)gendering Mysticism

3. Feminism, Mysticism, and Belief

Conclusion

Notes

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (p. 279-357) and index.

Description based upon print version of record.

ISBN:

9786612504259

9781282504257

1282504258

9780226349466

0226349462

OCLC:

609855201