- Hardcover: 608 pages
- Publisher: Basic Books (Sep 1993)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0465043127
- ISBN-13: 978-0465043125
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 16.3 x 5.3 cm
-
Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
950,888 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #66 in Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Social Sciences > Cultural Studies > Modernism
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
Wholly fascinating..."Madness and Modernism" is rooted in a thorough knowledge of the psychological literature, but [Sass] also draws on an extensive acquaintance with 19th and 20th-century art, literature and philosophy...Powerful, lucid and original...Should revolutionise our thinking about the workings of the human mind. -- Iain McGilchrist "London Review of Books"
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
A revelation of the eerie likeness between schizophrenic madness and the sensibility of modernist art, literature and thought, presenting a vivid portrait of the world of the madman and a provocative commentary on modernist and post-modernist culture.
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13 reviews
23 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Fascinating similarities between modernism and schizophrenia
19 Aug 1997
Format:Paperback
Louis Sass has written a fascinating comparison
of modernism and schizophrenia and related
disorders -- I couldn't put this book down. Sass'
knowledge of modern art and literature, coupled
with his experience as a clinical psychologist and
professor at Rutgers, makes this book. It's
extremely well-written -- the language is complex,
but by no means stilted and academic for the sake
of being academic. Sass' words will catch you and
draw you through fascinating discussions about
identity, language, visual representation, and
much more. He presents balanced observations and makes appropriate connections -- he doesn't
romanticize schizophrenia. One story he relays
expresses this perfectly (pardon my paraphrasing):
James Joyce discussed the creative similarities
between him and his daughter, a schizophrenic,
with Carl Jung. Jung described the difference
between Joyce's creativity and his daughter's
seeming creativity by saying that the difference
was that Joyce was diving down into the depths
while his daughter was falling. This is a perfect
analogy to put Sass' book into perspective.
If you have any interest in issues of identity,
psychology, and modern culture, you will want to
read this book.
of modernism and schizophrenia and related
disorders -- I couldn't put this book down. Sass'
knowledge of modern art and literature, coupled
with his experience as a clinical psychologist and
professor at Rutgers, makes this book. It's
extremely well-written -- the language is complex,
but by no means stilted and academic for the sake
of being academic. Sass' words will catch you and
draw you through fascinating discussions about
identity, language, visual representation, and
much more. He presents balanced observations and makes appropriate connections -- he doesn't
romanticize schizophrenia. One story he relays
expresses this perfectly (pardon my paraphrasing):
James Joyce discussed the creative similarities
between him and his daughter, a schizophrenic,
with Carl Jung. Jung described the difference
between Joyce's creativity and his daughter's
seeming creativity by saying that the difference
was that Joyce was diving down into the depths
while his daughter was falling. This is a perfect
analogy to put Sass' book into perspective.
If you have any interest in issues of identity,
psychology, and modern culture, you will want to
read this book.
20 of 20 people found the following review helpful
An intellectual treasure, and a lot of fun too
20 Oct 2000
Format:Paperback
With an interpretation so rigorous and self-critical that it is almost cruel, Sass teases out the threads of experience joining madness to modernism. Unlike some who do this sort of work, Sass is well-versed not only in psychology and psychiatry but also in contemporary intellectual discourse, and makes sophisticated use of the work of figures such as Foucault and de Man in his reading. He argues provocatively, using literary, artistic, and autobiographical works as well as empirical data, that schizophrenia is not (as many say) a form of Dionysian primitivity but rather a kind of violent entanglement in the paradoxes of hyperconsciousness. This book is absolutely a must read for anyone interested in schizophrenia or in modernism. Luckily, Sass is a fine writer and makes the book quite an enjoyable read as well.
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Fascinating and Informative
14 Mar 2000
Format:Paperback
The erudite Louis Sass provides insight not only into the experience of schizophrenia but also its expression in modern art. Although his thesis is that schizophrenia is not a regression in mentality but a hypertrophy of consciousness, he never allows the reader to forget that it is still a debilitating illness. His book introduced me to and helped me understand a number of artists and writers, especially Giorgio DiChirico. Not an easy book, but readable and rewarding.
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