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Reconstructing Pain and Joy: Linguistic, Literary and Cultural Perspectives
Editor: Chryssoula Lascaratou, Anna Despotopoulou and Elly Ifantidou
Date Of Publication: Apr 2008
Isbn13: 9781847185198
Isbn: 1-84718-519-3
How are pain and joy constructed, articulated, represented, manipulated, and, ultimately, socially determined? This is the first collection of essays that investigates how such multi-faceted and subjective domains of human experience as pain and joy—which combine physical, psychological, private, public, conceptual, and cultural dimensions—are represented and reconstructed in language, literature, and culture. Adopting a genuinely interdisciplinary approach, the book is organized around themes and divided into four parts which blend literary, cultural, and linguistic examinations of theoretical angles, socio-cultural appropriations, stage and screen constructions, and the body. Contributors include eminent scholars from a variety of fields—Catherine Belsey, Declan Kiberd, Zoltán Kövecses, and Elaine Scarry—whose work informs a current academic conversation also developed by other authors in the volume from original angles. With its multi-cultural focus, cross-historical, and interdisciplinary scope—featuring studies of literature, language, art, philosophy, religion, theatre, film, music, television, the internet—this book not only surveys past and contemporary theoretical and critical grounds, but also anticipates future developments: an invaluable resource for all scholars and students exploring the representation of joy and/or pain.

Chryssoula Lascaratou is Professor of Linguistics in the Faculty of English Studies, University of Athens. Her main research interests and areas of publication include the analysis of aspects of Greek and English syntax. Her long-term linguistic inquiry of the construal of pain in Greek from both a functional and a cognitive perspective comprises two articles and the book The Language of Pain: Expression or Description? (2007).

Anna Despotopoulou is Assistant Professor in the Faculty of English Studies, University of Athens. Her research focuses on Victorian, Modernist, and contemporary fiction, Henry James, and feminist theory, and she has published articles in collections of essays and international journals like The Review of English Studies, Cambridge Quarterly, Yearbook of English Studies, Papers on Language and Literature.

Elly Ifantidou is Assistant Professor of Language and Linguistics in the Faculty of English Studies, University of Athens. Her research interests are pragmatics, semantics, cognitive and linguistic development, academic discourse. Her recent publications include Evidentials and Relevance (2001) and articles in edited volumes and journals such as Journal of Pragmatics, Pragmatics and Cognition, Pragmatics.

“In an important contribution to contemporary thinking about pain and its cultural and literary representations, Lascaratou, Despotopoulou, and Ifantidou bring together essays from widely divergent theoretical and historical fields to explore the relationship of pain to joy. How was pain transformed to triumphant joy in the fiery deaths of the Protestant martyrs? How is it that audiences derive pleasure from the depiction of pain on screen or stage? Is it possible for past pleasure to outweigh present pain? These questions—amongst many others raised by this intriguing book—suggest ways in which academic discussions of pain have developed from early investigations of its inexpressibility to considering it as a phenomenon that can only be fully understood in broad theoretical and historical terms. This is a splendid book that draws on the work of such groundbreaking critics as Elaine Scarry and Catherine Belsey and sets these alongside emerging voices to produce something new, provocative, and persuasive.”

Lucy Bending, Lecturer, University of Reading, Author of The Representation of Bodily Pain in Late Nineteenth-Century English Culture. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2000.

“A stimulating collection of essays, providing insightful research and reflection on the relation between the textual construction of pain and the ultimate ineffability of experienced pain.”

Theo van Leeuwen, Professor at the Centre for Language and Communication Research, Cardiff University, UK.

Co-author of Kress, G. and Van Leeuwen, T. (2001) Multimodal Discourse: The Modes and Media of Contemporary Communication. London: Edward Arnold.

Price Uk Gbp: 44.99
Price Us Usd: 67.99

Sample pdf (including Table of Contents)

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