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Publics and Counterpublics

Series: Zone Books
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( 385 ratings, 28 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
In Publics and Counterpublics, Michael Warner explores the concept of a public as a fundamental fiction shaping modern life, literature, politics, and culture. Through eight essays, he investigates how publics form, exist, and interact, revealing how these social constructs define our relationships with strangers and the wider world. Warner draws upon historical context, theory, and case studies, particularly focusing on intersections between public-sphere theory and queer theory, to deepen our understanding of contemporary social and political dynamics.
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Format: Paperback / softback
$7800

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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book is suited for readers interested in social theory, cultural studies, politics, queer theory, and literary analysis, especially those engaged in academic or intellectual discussions about the nature of public life.

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An investigation of how the idea of a public as a central fiction of modern life informs our literature, politics, and culture.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

An investigation of how the idea of a public as a central fiction of modern life informs our literature, politics, and culture.

Most of the people around us belong to our world not directly, as kin or comrades, but as strangers. How do we recognize them as members of our world? We are related to them as transient participants in common publics. Indeed, most of us would find it nearly impossible to imagine a social world without publics.

In the eight essays in Publics and Counterpublics, Michael Warner addresses the question: What is a public? According to Warner, the idea of a public is one of the central fictions of modern life. Publics have powerful implications for how our social world takes shape, and much of modern life involves struggles over the nature of publics and their interrelations.

The idea of a public contains ambiguities, even contradictions. As it is extended to new contexts, politics, and media, its meaning changes in ways that can be difficult to uncover. Combining historical analysis, theoretical reflection, and extensive case studies, Warner shows how the idea of a public can reframe our understanding of contemporary literary works and politics and of our social world in general.

In particular, he applies the idea of a public to the junction of two intellectual traditions: public-sphere theory and queer theory.

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  • Publics and Counterpublics
    An investigation of how the idea of a public as a central fiction of modern life informs our literature, politics, and culture. Most of the people around us belong to our world not directly, as kin or comrades, but as strangers. How do we recognize them as members of our world? We are related to them as transient participants in...
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    Ships in 2-3 weeks

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Chuck Berg from Magill's Literary Annual praises the book as a provocative and significant advance in discourse on publics and counterpublics, highlighting Warner's broad and interdisciplinary scholarship.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781890951290

Publisher: Zone Books

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 10 April 2005

Country: United States

Imprint: Zone Books

Audience: Professional and scholarly

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 25.0mm

Width: 152.0mm

Height: 229.0mm

Weight: 522g

Pages: 336

About the Author

Michael Warner is Professor of English at Rutgers University. He is the author of The Trouble with Normal: Sex, Politics, and the Ethics of Queer Life and The Letters of the Republic: Publication and the Public Sphere in Eighteenth-Century America.

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