ABSTRACT

How do you write history when it's no longer linear? In Bloodrites of the Post-Structuralists, respected political theorist Anne Norton reminds us of the real interplay between words (laws, scriptures, myths, and texts), and the world of flesh. Drawing from sources as diverse as foundational myths from Sarah in the bible, Marat in his death bath, and thinkers like Hegel and Foucault, Norton reinterprets the relationship between word and flesh and places it in historical context. The French and English Revolutions, as well as the period of anti-colonialism and post-colonialism are used to frame her discussion of word and body, and their historical significance.

chapter |5 pages

Introduction

A Shape of Life Grown Old

part 1|42 pages

Section 1

chapter 1|6 pages

Power in the Blood

chapter 2|10 pages

Closed Body, Open Mind

chapter 3|7 pages

The Word Made Flesh: Barbarities

chapter 4|9 pages

Hand and Eye

chapter 5|6 pages

Open Bodies, Closed Minds

part 2|40 pages

Section 2

chapter 6|6 pages

Writing over Blood

chapter 7|13 pages

The Man of Blood and the Army of Scripture

chapter 8|9 pages

The Jews of Change Alley

chapter 9|8 pages

Dutch William

part 3|37 pages

Section 3

chapter 10|15 pages

Revolulionary Memories

chapter 11|12 pages

The Death of Marat

chapter 12|7 pages

The Peruerse Authorily of Writing

part 4|27 pages

Section 4

chapter 13|9 pages

Sacrifice

chapter 14|10 pages

The Fire next Time

chapter 15|5 pages

Semele, or the Enlightenment in Flames

part 5|27 pages

Section 5

chapter 16|6 pages

The Laughter of Demeter

chapter 17|6 pages

The Laughter of Sarah

chapter 18|7 pages

The Annunciation: The Text of the womb

chapter 19|5 pages

The Circumcised