The Ascetic Imperative in Culture and Criticism Export

@book{citeulike:3993000, abstract = {In this bold interdisciplinary work, Geoffrey Galt Harpham argues thatasceticism has played a major role in shaping Western ideas of the body,writing, ethics, and aesthetics. He suggests that we consider the ascetic as"the 'cultural' element in culture," and presents a close analysis of works byAthanasius, Augustine, Matthias, Gr\"{u}newald, Nietzsche, Foucault, and otherthinkers as proof of the extent of asceticism's resources. Harphamdemonstrates the usefulness of his findings by deriving from asceticism a"discourse of resistance," a code of interpretation ultimately more generousand humane than those currently available to us.}, author = {Harpham, Geoffrey G.}, citeulike-article-id = {3993000}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=citeulike09-20&path=ASIN/0226316920}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=citeulike01-21&path=ASIN/0226316920}, citeulike-linkout-2 = {http://www.amazon.fr/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=citeulike06-21&path=ASIN/0226316920}, citeulike-linkout-3 = {http://www.amazon.jp/exec/obidos/ASIN/0226316920}, citeulike-linkout-4 = {http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0226316920/citeulike00-21}, citeulike-linkout-5 = {http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=citeulike07-20&path=ASIN/0226316920}, citeulike-linkout-6 = {http://www.worldcat.org/isbn/0226316920}, citeulike-linkout-7 = {http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0226316920}, citeulike-linkout-8 = {http://www.amazon.com/gp/search?keywords=0226316920&index=books&linkCode=qs}, citeulike-linkout-9 = {http://www.librarything.com/isbn/0226316920}, comment = {Paper edn. 1993. ---=note-separator=--- No matter how hedonistic, materialistic, self-indulgent, wicked, or atomistic [any particular culture] may be, all cultures impose on their members the essential ascetic discipline of 'self-denial,' formulated by the Christain ascetics as the resistance to what Augustine calls 'nature and nature's appetites.' [{\P}] The numerous forms this resistance can take all derive from what may be thought of as primary psychic gestures.... Just as the mark of culture is the conviction of the value of self-denial, the mark of human consciousness is the capacity for self-observation or self-criticism. These are the bases of asceticism, whose manifest, explicit, and conscious forms appear now not as intrinsically unnatural and perverse but rather as an intensification, a repetition, of the earliest and most instinctive psychic and cultural developments. [{\P}] The interest of the early Christian exprience, then, is that within its fanatical particularity, a profound and virtually universal idea struggles for articulation. But perhaps it is a mistake to call asceticism an 'idea.' The durability of asceticism lies in its capacity to structure oppositions without collapsing them, to raise issues without settling them.... Asceticism, we could say, raises the issue of culture by structuring an opposition between culture and its opposite. Despite the fanaicism of its early Christian practitioners, who constantly extolled the value of 'single-mindedness,' asceticism is always marked by ambivalence, by a compromised binarism. To contemplate the ascetical basis of culture, for example, is to recognize that an integral part of the cultural experience is a disquiet, an ambivalent yearning for the precultural, postcultural, anticultural, or extracultural." Geoffrey Galt Harpham, The Ascetic Imperative in Culture and Criticism (U of Chicago P, 1988), pp. xif. Google Books 'link: sn.im/bhyje':http://sn.im/bhyje}, day = {15}, howpublished = {Paperback}, isbn = {0226316920}, keywords = {asceticism, christianity, criticism, culture, recommendation, to\_investigate}, month = {February}, posted-at = {2009-02-02 02:39:36}, priority = {2}, publisher = {University Of Chicago Press}, title = {The Ascetic Imperative in Culture and Criticism}, url = {http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=citeulike07-20&path=ASIN/0226316920}, year = {1987} }

TY - BOOK ID - citeulike:3993000 L3 - citeulike-article-id:3993000 N2 - In this bold interdisciplinary work, Geoffrey Galt Harpham argues thatasceticism has played a major role in shaping Western ideas of the body,writing, ethics, and aesthetics. He suggests that we consider the ascetic as"the 'cultural' element in culture," and presents a close analysis of works byAthanasius, Augustine, Matthias, Grünewald, Nietzsche, Foucault, and otherthinkers as proof of the extent of asceticism's resources. Harphamdemonstrates the usefulness of his findings by deriving from asceticism a"discourse of resistance," a code of interpretation ultimately more generousand humane than those currently available to us. SN - 0226316920 TI - The Ascetic Imperative in Culture and Criticism PB - University Of Chicago Press KW - asceticism KW - christianity KW - criticism KW - culture KW - recommendation KW - to_investigate N1 - Paper edn. 1993. N1 - No matter how hedonistic, materialistic, self-indulgent, wicked, or atomistic [any particular culture] may be, all cultures impose on their members the essential ascetic discipline of 'self-denial,' formulated by the Christain ascetics as the resistance to what Augustine calls 'nature and nature's appetites.' [¶] The numerous forms this resistance can take all derive from what may be thought of as primary psychic gestures.... Just as the mark of culture is the conviction of the value of self-denial, the mark of human consciousness is the capacity for self-observation or self-criticism. These are the bases of asceticism, whose manifest, explicit, and conscious forms appear now not as intrinsically unnatural and perverse but rather as an intensification, a repetition, of the earliest and most instinctive psychic and cultural developments. [¶] The interest of the early Christian exprience, then, is that within its fanatical particularity, a profound and virtually universal idea struggles for articulation. But perhaps it is a mistake to call asceticism an 'idea.' The durability of asceticism lies in its capacity to structure oppositions without collapsing them, to raise issues without settling them.... Asceticism, we could say, raises the issue of culture by structuring an opposition between culture and its opposite. Despite the fanaicism of its early Christian practitioners, who constantly extolled the value of 'single-mindedness,' asceticism is always marked by ambivalence, by a compromised binarism. To contemplate the ascetical basis of culture, for example, is to recognize that an integral part of the cultural experience is a disquiet, an ambivalent yearning for the precultural, postcultural, anticultural, or extracultural." Geoffrey Galt Harpham, The Ascetic Imperative in Culture and Criticism (U of Chicago P, 1988), pp. xif. Google Books 'link: sn.im/bhyje':http://sn.im/bhyje AU - Harpham, Geoffrey PY - 1987/02/15/ UR - http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=citeulike09-20&path=ASIN/0226316920 ER -