Interpassivity: The Aesthetics of Delegated Enjoyment

A Radical Criticism Of Current Assumptions In The Field Of Cultural Theory Today, Robert Pfaller Advances A General Theory Of Interpassivity As The Wish For Delegated Consumption And Enjoyment In Both Art And Everyday-life. It Is Therefore A Concept That Allows Him To Tackle A Vast Range Of Phenomena: Culture, Art, Sports And Religion. He Asks: Why Do People Record Tv Programmes Instead Of Watching Them? Why Are Former Alcoholics Pleased To Let Other People Drink In Their Place? Why Can Ritual Machines Pray In Place Of Believers? Asking These Unusual Questions Allows Us To Understand Not Only Certain Modes Of Behaviour But Also Mechanisms Of Pleasure In Culture. Pfaller Provides Criticism Of Dominant Assumptions, Offers An Escape From Prevailing Ideologies And Exposes The Ways In Which Cultural Capitalism Promotes Commodities With The Promise Of Happiness. Book Jacket. Introduction : Interpassivity Today -- The Work Of Art That Observes Itself : The Aesthetics Of Interpassivity -- The Parasites Of Parricide. Living Through The Other When Killing The Father : Interpassivity In The Brothers Karamazov -- Little Gestures Of Disappearance : Interpassivity And The Theory Of Ritual -- Interpassivity And Misdemeanours : The Art Of Thinking In Examples And The Žižekian Toolbox -- Against Participation -- Matters Of Generosity : On Art And Love -- What Reveals The Taste Of The City : The Ethics Of Urbanity. Robert Pfaller. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.