The habits of distraction / Michael Wood.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wood, Michael, 1936- author.

Series:

Critical inventions

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Benjamin, Walter, 1892-1940--Criticism and interpretation.

Benjamin, Walter.

Barthes, Roland--Criticism and interpretation.

Barthes, Roland.

Benjamin, Walter, 1892-1940.

Distraction (Philosophy).

Motion pictures--Philosophy.

Motion pictures.

Arts--Philosophy.

Arts.

Interpretation (Philosophy).

Criticism and interpretation.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Physical Description:

ix, 114 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Brighton ; Chicago : Sussex Academic Press, [2018]

Summary:

"The thoughts traced in this book may seem a little complicated but the project itself is simple. It is to see what sort of weight and extension Walter Benjamin's phrase 'reception in distraction' can be seen to bear in changing contexts. The book first looks at the theoretical contours of the phrase, and several of its relatives, in the work of Benjamin and Barthes, with a glance at a prehistory in Proust and others. It then closely considers some different objects of reception and different forms of distraction: in jazz, classical music, poetry, painting, art house film and popular film. Particular instances are: an album by Miles Davis and his group, a song by Richard Strauss, a poem by W. B. Yeats, a painting by Max Ernst, a film by Luís Buñuel, a film by Clint Eastwood. The hope is that distraction in interpretation - listening, reading, viewing, watching - will come to seem less vague and regrettable, and may serve as a corrective to narrow, expert and over-explicit modes of response. But this hope itself depends on readers who will take what is shown here as an invitation to choose their own examples and explore some of these possibilities for themselves" -- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Series Preface by John Schad

Part One. Out of Theory

One: The Distraction Set

Two: Staying Too Long

Three: Something Is Happening

Part Two. Into Practice.

Four: Kinds Of Cool

Five: All That Dread

Six: Playing The Witch

Seven: Let's Not Overthink This

Epilogue: Don't Say Goodbye.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781845192495

1845192494

9781845192501

1845192508

OCLC:

1031409405