When European travellers went overseas in the 16th century, they encountered unfamiliar lands, peoples and sights. These travellers had to re-present these encounters to Europeans for whom they stood for the unfamiliar - the "exotic". But the exotic, according to the author of this work, is not something that existed prior to its "discovery". Rather, he points out, it is the very act of "discovery" which produces the exotic as such. Mason explores the texts, paintings, drawings, photographs and museum displays in which the ...
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When European travellers went overseas in the 16th century, they encountered unfamiliar lands, peoples and sights. These travellers had to re-present these encounters to Europeans for whom they stood for the unfamiliar - the "exotic". But the exotic, according to the author of this work, is not something that existed prior to its "discovery". Rather, he points out, it is the very act of "discovery" which produces the exotic as such. Mason explores the texts, paintings, drawings, photographs and museum displays in which the exotic has been represented from the early modern period to the present. He describes the unique iconography that Europeans developed to represent the exotic and the means they employed to display it once artefacts were brought to Europe. In both instances, the exotic object is taken out of its original context and given a meaning and significance it never had. To differentiate the "exotic" from the "other", Mason says that in understanding the "other" there is engagment and interchange; in encountering the "exotic" it is a one-sided effort at understanding: the exotic object never gives up its meaning. The title is taken from philosopher J.L. Austin, who used the term to refer to what happens when something goes wrong on the occasion of an act of utterance. For Mason, this "doctrine of infelicities" seems applicable to European encounters with the exotic and the efforts to represent those encounters.
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Add this copy of Infelicities: Representations of the Exotic to cart. $73.98, good condition, Sold by Midtown Scholar Bookstore rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Harrisburg, PA, UNITED STATES, published 1998 by Johns Hopkins University Press.
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Seller's Description:
HARDCOVER Good-Bumped and creased book with tears to the extremities, but not affecting the text block, may have remainder mark or previous owner's name-GOOD Standard-sized.
Add this copy of Infelicities: Representations of the Exotic to cart. $106.87, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1998 by Johns Hopkins University Press.
Add this copy of Infelicities: Representations of the Exotic to cart. $132.00, good condition, Sold by Anybook rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Lincoln, UNITED KINGDOM, published 1998 by John Hopkins University Press.
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This is an ex-library book and may have the usual library/used-book markings inside. This book has hardback covers. In good all round condition. Dust jacket in good condition. Please note the Image in this listing is a stock photo and may not match the covers of the actual item, 700grams, ISBN: 9780801858802.