Overlooking Damage: Art, Display, and Loss in Times of Crisis

Overlooking Damage explores the relationship between beauty and violence, suggesting that a thoughtful reaction to images of damage can lead to a new reckoning. It examines how writers from the French Revolution to today have reacted to revolutionary iconoclasm, imperial looting, and industrial capitalism, and proposes that we can find resources to navigate our contemporary situation by bringing the methods of literary studies to bear on these debates.

Format: Hardback
Length: 336 pages
Publication date: 28 June 2022
Publisher: Stanford University Press

Overlooking Damage delves into the profound relationship between beauty and violence, challenging our perceptions and raising important questions. From the Roman triumph to the iconoclasm of ISIS and the Taliban, the world has witnessed the intimate connection between these two forces. In this book, Jonah Siegel makes a daring argument that our response to images of damage need not be limited to melancholy but can lead us to a new reckoning.

Siegel suggests that the objects we admire would be more beautiful if they were not injured or displaced, if they did not remind us of unbearable violence. He draws upon writers from the time of the French Revolution to the present day, exploring their reactions to the depredations of revolutionary iconoclasm, imperial looting, and industrial capitalism. Through his analysis, Siegel proposes that these authors offer valuable resources for navigating our contemporary situation.

Overlooking Damage employs the methods of literary studies to engage with critical debates in the fields of heritage, archaeology, and visual culture. It reflects on the ways in which concepts of beauty intersect with periods of epochal violence, aiming to resist the separation of broken things from the worlds in which they have come to be embedded. By exploring this complex relationship, the book offers a fresh perspective on the ways in which we perceive and interpret the world around us.

In conclusion, Overlooking Damage is a thought-provoking and insightful book that challenges our assumptions about beauty and violence. It encourages us to think critically about the ways in which these forces interact and to explore new ways of responding to the damage we witness in the world. Through its interdisciplinary approach, the book offers valuable insights into the complex relationship between these two forces and provides a framework for understanding and addressing the challenges of our contemporary world.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781503630550