Violence and the Limits of Representation

“This stimulating collection provides a provocative and original exploration of representations of violence across cinema, popular music, the internet, literature, art and theatre. Through engagement with influential thinkers and artists from Roland Barthes to Slavoj i ek by way of the Marquis de Sade, Yoko Ono, Leonora Carrington and Steven Spielberg this superb anthology greatly broadens our understanding of representation not only as the cause of violence, but also as determining of our responses to it. Violence and the Limits of Representation focuses our attention in particular on the everyday presence of violence in institutions (the procedures, bureaucracy and terminology which perpetrate indifferent violence against people), our homes, ubiquitous new technologies, the built environment, security culture, and all pervasive global capital. The transdisciplinary influence of this text will be felt for years to come.”

David Martin-Jones, Professor of Film Studies, University of Glasgow, UK