Langbeschreibung
In 1945, French political prisoners returning from the concentration camps of Germany coined the phrase 'the concentrationary universe' to describe the camps as a terrible political experiment in the destruction of the human. This book shows how the unacknowledged legacy of a totalitarian mentality has seeped into the deepest recesses of everyday popular culture. It asks if the concentrationary now infests our cultural imaginary, normalizing what was once considered horrific and exceptional by transforming into entertainment violations of human life. Drawing on the political philosophy of Hannah Arendt and the analyses of violence by Agamben, Virilio, Lacoue-Labarthe and Nancy, it also offers close readings of films by Cavani and Haneke that identify and critically expose such an imaginary and, hence, contest its lingering force.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
List of Illustrations AcknowledgementsSeries Preface: Concentrationary Memories: The Politics of Representation, Griselda Pollock and Max SilvermanIntroductionA Concentrationary Imaginary?, Griselda PollockPart I. Thinking1. Framing Horror, Adriana Cavarero2. Between Realism and Fiction: Arendt and Levi on Concentrationary Imaginaries, Olivia Guaraldo3. Totality, Convergence, Synchronization, Ian JamesPart II. Desire4. Wrap me up in Sadist Knots: Representations of Sadism-From Naziploitation to Torture Porn, Aaron Kerner5. Redemption or Transformation: Blasphemy and the Concentrationary Imaginary in Liliana Cavani's The Night Porter (1974), Griselda PollockPart III. Camp6. Seep and Creep: the Concentrationary Imaginary in Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island (2010), Benjamin Hannavy Cousen7. Haneke and the Camps, Max Silverman 8. Spec(tac)ularizing 'Campness': Nikita and La Femme Nikita the Series, Brenda HollwegNotesBibliographyNotes on ContributorsIndex