On Longing: Narratives of the Miniature, the Gigantic, the Souvenir, the Collection by Susan Stewart

Description

Miniature books, eighteenth-century novels, Tom Thumb weddings, tall tales, and objects of tourism and nostalgia: this diverse group of cultural forms is the subject of On Longing, a fascinating analysis of the ways in which everyday objects are narrated to animate or realize certain versions of the world. Originally published in 1984 (Johns Hopkins University Press), and now available in paperback for the first time, this highly original book draws on insights from semiotics and from show more psychoanalytic, feminist, and Marxist criticism. Addressing the relations of language to experience, the body to scale, and narratives to objects, Susan Stewart looks at the "miniature" as a metaphor for interiority and at the "gigantic" as an exaggeration of aspects of the exterior. In the final part of her essay Stewart examines the ways in which the "souvenir" and the "collection" are objects mediating experience in time and space. show less

Recommendations

The Poetics of Space by Gaston Bachelard

The Poetics of Space

Gaston Bachelard

Illuminations: Essays and Reflections by Walter Benjamin

Illuminations: Essays and Reflections

Walter Benjamin

Kant and the Platypus: Essays on Language and Cognition by Umberto Eco

Kant and the Platypus: Essays on Language and Cognition

Umberto Eco

S/Z: An Essay by Roland Barthes

S/Z: An Essay

Roland Barthes

Image, Music, Text by Roland Barthes

Image, Music, Text

Roland Barthes

The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays by Mikhail Bakhtin

The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays

Mikhail Bakhtin

The Dialectics of Seeing: Walter Benjamin and the Arcades Project by Susan Buck-Morss

The Dialectics of Seeing: Walter Benjamin and the Arcades Project

Susan Buck-Morss

Poetry and the Fate of the Senses by Susan Stewart

Poetry and the Fate of the Senses

Susan Stewart

The Practice of Everyday Life by Michel de Certeau

The Practice of Everyday Life

Michel de Certeau

Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography by Roland Barthes

Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography

Roland Barthes

The Arcades Project by Walter Benjamin

The Arcades Project

Walter Benjamin

The Anti-Aesthetic: Essays on Postmodern Culture by Hal Foster

The Anti-Aesthetic: Essays on Postmodern Culture

Hal Foster

The Pleasure of the Text by Roland Barthes

The Pleasure of the Text

Roland Barthes

Aesthetic Theory by Theodor W. Adorno

Aesthetic Theory

Theodor W. Adorno

Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism by Vincent B. Leitch

Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism

Vincent B. Leitch

Reflections: Essays, Aphorisms, Autobiographical Writings by Walter Benjamin

Reflections: Essays, Aphorisms, Autobiographical Writings

Walter Benjamin

Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction by Jonathan D. Culler

Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction

Jonathan D. Culler

Mythologies by Roland Barthes

Mythologies

Roland Barthes

The Political Unconscious: Narrative as a Socially Symbolic Act by Fredric Jameson

The Political Unconscious: Narrative as a Socially Symbolic Act

Fredric Jameson

Archive Fever: A Freudian Impression by Jacques Derrida

Archive Fever: A Freudian Impression

Jacques Derrida

Crimes of Writing: Problems in the Containment of Representation by Susan Stewart

Crimes of Writing: Problems in the Containment of Representation

Susan Stewart

The Museum Experience Revisited by John H. Falk

The Museum Experience Revisited

John H. Falk

Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection by Julia Kristeva

Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection

Julia Kristeva

Empire of Signs by Roland Barthes

Empire of Signs

Roland Barthes

A Lover's Discourse: Fragments by Roland Barthes

A Lover's Discourse: Fragments

Roland Barthes

After Theory by Terry Eagleton

After Theory

Terry Eagleton

The Ideology of the Aesthetic by Terry Eagleton

The Ideology of the Aesthetic

Terry Eagleton

Rabelais and His World by Mikhail Bakhtin

Rabelais and His World

Mikhail Bakhtin

Walter Benjamin: Selected Writings, Volume 1: 1913-1926 by Walter Benjamin

Walter Benjamin: Selected Writings, Volume 1: 1913-1926

Walter Benjamin

Anti-Oedipus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia by Gilles Deleuze

Anti-Oedipus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia

Gilles Deleuze

A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia by Gilles Deleuze

A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia

Gilles Deleuze

Desire in Language: A Semiotic Approach to Literature and Art by Julia Kristeva

Desire in Language: A Semiotic Approach to Literature and Art

Julia Kristeva

Writing and Difference by Jacques Derrida

Writing and Difference

Jacques Derrida

Black Sun: Depression and Melancholia by Julia Kristeva

Black Sun: Depression and Melancholia

Julia Kristeva

The Culture of the Copy: Striking Likenesses, Unreasonable Facsimiles by Hillel Schwartz

The Culture of the Copy: Striking Likenesses, Unreasonable Facsimiles

Hillel Schwartz

Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory by Peter Barry

Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory

Peter Barry

The Field of Cultural Production: Essays on Art and Literature by Pierre Bourdieu

The Field of Cultural Production: Essays on Art and Literature

Pierre Bourdieu

Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism by Fredric Jameson

Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism

Fredric Jameson

The Body in Pain: The Making and Unmaking of the World by Elaine Scarry

The Body in Pain: The Making and Unmaking of the World

Elaine Scarry

A Barthes Reader by Roland Barthes

A Barthes Reader

Roland Barthes

The Society of the Spectacle by Guy Debord

The Society of the Spectacle

Guy Debord

Cruel Optimism by Lauren Berlant

Cruel Optimism

Lauren Berlant

Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society by Raymond Williams

Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society

Raymond Williams

Iconology: Image, Text, Ideology by W. J. T. Mitchell

Iconology: Image, Text, Ideology

W. J. T. Mitchell

Literary Theory: An Introduction by Terry Eagleton

Literary Theory: An Introduction

Terry Eagleton

Theory of the Avant-Garde by Peter Bürger

Theory of the Avant-Garde

Peter Bürger

Techniques of the Observer: On Vision and Modernity in the Nineteenth Century by Jonathan Crary

Techniques of the Observer: On Vision and Modernity in the Nineteenth Century

Jonathan Crary

The Limits of Interpretation by Umberto Eco

The Limits of Interpretation

Umberto Eco

Poetry, Language, Thought by Martin Heidegger

Poetry, Language, Thought

Martin Heidegger

Cinema 1: The Movement-Image by Gilles Deleuze

Cinema 1: The Movement-Image

Gilles Deleuze

Complete Recommendations

Member Reviews

Featured Recent Thumbs

All Ratings
7
½1
10
½1
3
No Rating

1 review

Jetztzeit 116 reviews

Maybe the best thing I read in library school. I don't know how to describe it, but highly recommended if you like thinking about stuff/things/material/collecting.

May 15, 2020