Violence and the Limits of Representation

Sam Goodman, University of Exeter, UKRosalind Haslett, Newcastle University, UKRobert Jackson, postgraduate researcher, artist and software developer, UKGraham Matthews, Newcastle University, UKCatriona McAra, University of Huddersfield, UKJohn Mullarkey, Kingston University, London, UKBenjamin Noys, University of Chichester, UKXavier Aldana Reyes, Manchester Metropolitan University, UKScott Wilson, Kingston University, London, UK

• Contents List of Figures Acknowledgements Notes on Contributors Introduction: Violence and the Limits of Representation; Sam Goodman and Graham Matthews 1. The Violence of Representation and the Representation of Violence; Benjamin Noys 2. Violence and Love (in which Yoko Ono encourages Slavoj Žižek to give peace a chance); Scott Wilson 3. (Im)material Violence: Discipline and the Gaze in James Kelman's How Late It Was, How Late ; Graham Matthews 4. Sadeian Women: Erotic Violence in the Surrealist Spectacle; Catriona McAra 5. Demarcating Violence in the Dramaturgy of Lisa McGee's Girls and Dolls ; Rosalind Haslett 6. Skeletons of Solid Objects: Imperial Violence in J.G. Farrell's Empire Trilogy ; Sam Goodman 7. Contingent Violence: Bergson and the Comedy of Horrors in Schindler's List ; John Mullarkey 8. Violence and Mediation: The Ethics of Spectatorship in the Twenty-First Century Horror Film; Xavier Aldana Reyes 9. Objects of Surprise: Violence, Security and Metaphysics; Robert Jackson Index

"This stimulating collection provides a provocative and original exploration of representations of violence across cinema, popular music, the internet, literature, art and theatre. Through engagement with influential thinkers and artists from Roland Barthes to Slavoj i ek by way of the Marquis de Sade, Yoko Ono, Leonora Carrington and Steven Spielberg this superb anthology greatly broadens our understanding of representation not only as the cause of violence, but also as determining of our responses to it. Violence and the Limits of Representation focuses our attention in particular on the everyday presence of violence in institutions (the procedures, bureaucracy and terminology which perpetrate indifferent violence against people), our homes, ubiquitous new technologies, the built environment, security culture, and all pervasive global capital. The transdisciplinary influence of this text will be felt for years to come." David Martin-Jones, Professor of Film Studies, University of Glasgow, UK