A pathognomy of performance

A Pathognomy of Performance stages an encounter between performance and philosophy to investigate notions of the event, ephemerality and democracy that have perpetually marked the engagement of thought and the theatrical. Reanimating the antique concept of pathognomy as the art of tracking the fleeting or anomalous across varied terrain, €the author€brings together a wide variety of source material drawn from theatre and performance studies, philosophy, neuroscience, biology, the and the visual arts to offer new perspectives on an ethics and aesthetics shaped by the forces of undoing and interruption. Weaving together a series of surprising conversations between the work of major philosophers, from Levinas and Deleuze through to Badiou and Rancïre, and an eclectic range of phenomena, from the celebrity on stage to the theatricality of the laugh, grimace and sneeze, he explores how 'the passion for the real' that continues to grip contemporary thought finds itself expressed in everyday acts of failure, accident and collapse which continually redraw the boundaries around the human and humane.

"Exploring the themes of the event, ephemerality and democracy that mark the encounter between performance and philosophy, this original study elaborates fresh perspectives on the experiences of undoing, fiasco and disaster that shadow both the both stage and everyday life"--

List of Illustrations -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- Strains of Thought -- Points of Suspension -- Instants of Affection -- Anomalous Appearances -- The Borrowed Masks of Being -- Logics of Expression -- Wrinkles, Furrows and Folds -- The Tonic of the Sonic -- Deleted Expletives -- Peals of Appeal -- Bibliography -- Index.

Machine generated contents note: -- List of Illustrations -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- Strains of Thought -- Points of Suspension -- Instants of Affection -- Anomalous Appearances -- The Borrowed Masks of Being -- Logics of Expression -- Wrinkles, Furrows and Folds -- The Tonic of the Sonic -- Deleted Expletives -- Peals of Appeal -- Bibliography -- Index.