Portrait

Portraits, this book suggests, unlock the paradoxes of subjectivity. Nancy shows how the portrait, far from conveying a sitter's self-sameness, is suspended between proximity and distance, likeness and strangeness, representation and presentation, the faithful and the forceful. A portrait can identify an individual, but it can also express a more complex double movement of approach and withdrawal.

Portrait comprises two extended essays in close conversation, written a decade apart, in which Nancy considers the range of aspirations articulated by the portrait. Accompanied by three dozen illustrations, it also includes a new preface written for the English-language edition and a substantial introduction by Jeffrey Librett, which situates the work within a range religious, aesthetic, and psychoanalytic accounts of the subject.

Portrait is grounded in a bold and searching engagement with the traditions out of which our thinking about the subject has emerged. It is also a playful series of readings that draws on a wide range of portraits: from carvings on ancient drinking vessels to recent experimental or parodic pieces in which sitters are rendered in the 'media' of their own blood, germ culture, or DNA.

Photos are ubiquitous today, but Nancy argues that this in no way makes thinking about the portrait an idle pursuit. On the contrary, the forms of appearing (and disappearing) that mark portraits--old and new--can serve to renew our exploration of the human figure today. At stake is what Nancy calls "the very possibility of our being present."

This work received the French Voices Award for excellence in publication and translation. French Voices is a program created and funded by the French Embassy in the United States and FACE (French American Cultural Exchange).

Author: Jean-Luc Nancy
Publisher: Fordham University Press
Published: 06/12/2018
Pages: 144
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.45lbs
Size: 8.90h x 6.00w x 0.50d
ISBN: 9780823279951

About the Author
Jean-Luc Nancy (Author)
Jean-Luc Nancy (1940-2016) was Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the Université Marc Bloch, Strasbourg. His wide-ranging thought runs through many books, including The Literary Absolute, Being Singular Plural, The Ground of the Image, Listening, Corpus, The Disavowed Community, and Sexistence.

Jeffrey S. Librett (Introducer)
Jeffrey S. Librett is Professor of German at the University of Oregon.

Sarah Clift (Translator)
Sarah Clift is Assistant Professor of Contemporary Studies at the University of King's College, Halifax.