Defaced: The Visual Culture of Violence in the Late Middle Ages by Valentin Groe

Description: Defaced by Valentin Groebner Understanding late medieval pictorial representations of violence. FORMAT Paperback LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Publisher Description Understanding late medieval pictorial representations of violence.Destroyed faces, dissolved human shapes, invisible enemies: violence and anonymity go hand in hand. The visual representation of extreme physical violence makes real people nameless exemplars of horror-formless, hideous, defaced. In Defaced, Valentin Groebner explores the roots of the visual culture of violence in medieval and Renaissance Europe and shows how contemporary visual culture has been shaped by late medieval images and narratives of violence. For late medieval audiences, as with modern media consumers, horror lies less in the "indescribable" and "alien" than in the familiar and commonplace. From the fourteenth century onward, pictorial representations became increasingly violent, whether in depictions of the Passion, or in vivid and precise images of torture, execution, and war. But not every spectator witnessed the same thing when confronted with terrifying images of a crucified man, misshapen faces, allegedly bloodthirsty conspirators on nocturnal streets, or barbarian fiends on distant battlefields. The profusion of violent imagery provoked a question: how to distinguish the illegitimate violence that threatened and reversed the social order from the proper, "just," and sanctioned use of force? Groebner constructs a persuasive answer to this question by investigating how uncannily familiar medieval dystopias were constructed and deconstructed. Showing how extreme violence threatens to disorient, and how the effect of horror resides in the depiction of minute details, Groebner offers an original model for understanding how descriptions of atrocities and of outrageous cruelty depended, in medieval times, on the variation of familiar narrative motifs. Notes "A shocking study that demystifies the significance of suffering in late medieval society by placing representations of penitence and the Passion on a par with the political uses of brutality against the body. Iconoclastic, yet humane, Groebners compelling essays uncover the full spectrum of acts and images that, no matter how grisly or grotesque, formed part of a semiotics of savagery that continues to inform representations of law and order and the practice of compulsion and constraint well into the modern era." Jeffrey Hamburger , Harvard University Author Biography Valentin Groebner is professor of medieval and Renaissance history at the University of Lucerne. He is the author of Liquid Assets, Dangerous Gifts and Who Are You? Identification, Deception, and Surveillance in Early Modern Europe. Review Timely... another worthwhile publication from Zone, which has done so much to revise our understanding of medieval bodies.—CAA Reviews Promotional "A shocking study that demystifies the significance of suffering in late medieval society by placing representations of penitence and the Passion on a par with the political uses of brutality against the body. Iconoclastic, yet humane, Groebners compelling essays uncover the full spectrum of acts and images that, no matter how grisly or grotesque, formed part of a semiotics of savagery that continues to inform representations of law and order and the practice of compulsion and constraint well into the modern era." Jeffrey Hamburger , Harvard University Review Text "Timely... another worthwhile publication from Zone, which has done so much to revise our understanding of medieval bodies." - Kerr Houston, CAA Reviews Review Quote "Timely...another worthwhile publication from Zone, which has done so much to reviseour understanding of medieval bodies." Kerr Houston CAA Reviews Details ISBN1890951382 Author Valentin Groebner Short Title DEFACED Language English Translator Pamela Selwyn ISBN-10 1890951382 ISBN-13 9781890951382 Media Book Format Paperback Year 2009 Subtitle The Visual Culture of Violence in the Late Middle Ages Place of Publication New York Country of Publication United States Imprint Zone Books Translated from German Audience Age 18 Series Zone Books DOI 10.1604/9781890951382 UK Release Date 2009-03-02 NZ Release Date 2009-03-02 US Release Date 2009-03-02 Pages 200 Publisher Zone Books Publication Date 2009-03-02 Alternative 9781890951375 DEWEY 704.949303609024 Audience Further / Higher Education AU Release Date 2009-05-11 Illustrations 27 illus.; 27 Illustrations We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! TheNile_Item_ID:161663704;

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