www.medievalbookshop.co.uk

Bargain books on the Middle Ages and all related subjects

Contact by email or post & phone


Publisher's notice

This book is not offered for sale by Medievalbookshop, but a link is provided so that you can purchase copies from Amazon. Information about this book was provided by the publisher and some details may have changed. More about this page...

Kathleen Biddick.
The Typological Imaginary: Circumcision, Technology, History
.
Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, Sept 2003.
160pp.
Hardback ISBN 0812237404.
 

Publisher's recommended price $34.95s/£24.50

In this book Kathleen Biddick investigates the fate of the enduring timelines fabricated by early Christians to distinguish themselves from their Jewish neighbors. Ranging widely across the history of text, technology, and book art, she relates three interwoven stories: the Christians' translation of circumcision into a graphic problem of writing on the heart; the temporal construction of Christian notions of history based on the binary supersession of an Old Testament past by the present of a new dispensation; and the traumatic repetition of the graphic cutting off of Christians from Jews in academic history and anthropology.

Moving beyond well-studied theological polemics, Biddick works from the relatively unfamiliar vantage point of the graphic technologies used in medieval and early modern texts and print sources, from maps to trial transcripts to universal histories. Addressing current concerns about the posthuman condition by linking them to a deeper genealogy of disembodiment at the technological heart of imaginary fantasies, she argues that such supersessionary practices extend to contemporary psychoanalytic and postcolonial texts, even as they propose alternative ways of thinking about memory and temporality. Crucial to Biddick's study is the ethical challenge of unbinding the typological imaginary, not in order to disavow theological difference but rather to open up the encounter between Christian and Jew to less deadening teleological readings.

Making a significant contribution to the large debate over the transition from "scriptural" to "scientific" culture in Europe, The Typological Imaginary also succeeds in shedding light on the centrality of Jews to medieval and Enlightenment history. 


Back to previous page

Browse books published this year

Go to Medievalbookshop used books page



Use these scrollbars to navigate the attic...

You need javascript switched on for these scrollbars to work. If they don't, there's a full set of links at the bottom of this page.


Primary sources anthologies | anononymous | facsimile | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

Secondary sources journals & partworks | author unknown | exhibition guides & ephemera | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | Mc | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

Reference books Reference index | general reference | bibliographies | biographical dictionaries | catalogues: auctions | catalogues: exhibitions | catalogues: museums & collections | chronology & dating | genealogy & heraldry | guides & gazetteers | lexical: concordances, dictionaries, glossaries | maps & atlases | medievalism | name & place-name studies | pass notes & study guides | numismatics

Medievalism main page | general non-fiction | reference books | biography & autobiography | travelogues | arcana | folklore | arts and crafts | kid's books | fiction | poetry | drama | humour

Other stuff browse by subject | browse by publisher | browse by series | gift books | kids' stuff | incomplete sets | shop returns | signed copies | unused bargains | useful non-medieval | new books (with Amazon links)



Google

medievalbookshop
Web

Site search
(Fluid Dynamics)

Search tips


medievalbookshop

Site map

Contact

Mailing list

Your feedback

What is medieval?

Other frequently asked questions


Books

How to find what you're looking for

Used books for sale

Unused bargains

How the book descriptions work

Jargon


How to order

Payment options

Delivery times

Sell your books

Your wants lists


Information pages

Recent publishers' notices

Bulletin board

Upcoming events

Other booksellers

Publisher links

Other links


The small print

Returns and refunds policy

Privacy policy

Access policy

Terms and conditions