Formal Matters: Embodied Experience in Modern Literature

Formal Matters explores the relationship between embodiment and form in modern European authors, re-examining the postmodernist insistence that the body escapes signification through early and mid-century formalisms. It argues that embodiment or the experience of the lived,corporeal body constitutes form, challenging the notion that it resists representation. Through close textual analysis, the book provides a new method for grasping embodied experience and reinvigorates formalist methods with political potential.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 240 pages
Publication date: 14 February 2024
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Formal Matters delves into the intriguing exploration of postmodernism's assertion that the body manages to evade signification by embracing an unexpected source: early and mid-century formalisms. By seamlessly merging formalism's quest to impart form to the indescribable with postmodernism's discursive body, the book presents a compelling argument that embodiment, or the profound experience of the lived, corporeal body, is not the entity that resists representation but rather what constitutes form itself. This groundbreaking work operates at the crossroads of formalist criticism, phenomenology, and body studies, offering a fresh perspective on the intricate relationship between embodiment and form in a diverse array of modern European authors. Through meticulous textual analysis, Formal Matters unveils a novel approach to understanding embodied experience when it appears most attenuated and fragmented. At the same time, it revitalizes formalist methods by harnessing their political potential.

Paragraph 1: Formal Matters explores the intriguing assertion of postmodernism, which posits that the body can evade signification by turning to an unexpected source: early and mid-century formalisms. By seamlessly integrating formalism's endeavor to impart form to the indescribable with postmodernism's discursive body, the book presents a compelling argument that embodiment, or the profound experience of the lived, corporeal body, is not the entity that resists representation but rather what constitutes form itself. This groundbreaking work operates at the crossroads of formalist criticism, phenomenology, and body studies, offering a fresh perspective on the intricate relationship between embodiment and form in a diverse array of modern European authors. Through meticulous textual analysis, Formal Matters unveils a novel approach to understanding embodied experience when it appears most attenuated and fragmented. At the same time, it revitalizes formalist methods by harnessing their political potential.

Paragraph 2: The book Formal Matters delves into the intriguing exploration of postmodernism's assertion that the body manages to evade signification by embracing an unexpected source: early and mid-century formalisms. By seamlessly merging formalism's quest to impart form to the indescribable with postmodernism's discursive body, the book presents a compelling argument that embodiment, or the profound experience of the lived, corporeal body, is not the entity that resists representation but rather what constitutes form itself. This groundbreaking work operates at the crossroads of formalist criticism, phenomenology, and body studies, offering a fresh perspective on the intricate relationship between embodiment and form in a diverse array of modern European authors. Through meticulous textual analysis, Formal Matters unveils a novel approach to understanding embodied experience when it appears most attenuated and fragmented. At the same time, it revitalizes formalist methods by harnessing their political potential.

Weight: 372g
Dimension: 156 x 234 x 17 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781474497510