The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human WorldWinner of the International Lannan Literary Award for Nonfiction Animal tracks, word magic, the speech of stones, the power of letters, and the taste of the wind all figure prominently in this intellectual tour de force that returns us to our senses and to the sensuous terrain that sustains us. This major work of ecological philosophy startles the senses out of habitual ways of perception. For a thousand generations, human beings viewed themselves as part of the wider community of nature, and they carried on active relationships not only with other people with other animals, plants, and natural objects (including mountains, rivers, winds, and weather patters) that we have only lately come to think of as "inanimate." How, then, did humans come to sever their ancient reciprocity with the natural world? What will it take for us to recover a sustaining relation with the breathing earth? In The Spell of the Sensuous David Abram draws on sources as diverse as the philosophy of Merleau-Ponty, Balinese shamanism, Apache storytelling, and his own experience as an accomplished sleight-of-hand of magician to reveal the subtle dependence of human cognition on the natural environment. He explores the character of perception and excavates the sensual foundations of language, which--even at its most abstract--echoes the calls and cries of the earth. On every page of this lyrical work, Abram weaves his arguments with a passion, a precision, and an intellectual daring that recall such writers as Loren Eisleley, Annie Dillard, and Barry Lopez. |
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LibraryThing Review
User Review - willszal - LibraryThingAt first glance, you might think that the is a book about philosophy. Abram does cover German philosopher Edmund Husserl and French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty. Both of these thinkers were ... Read full review
THE SPELL OF THE SENSUOUS: Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human World
User Review - KirkusPhilosopher and ecologist Abram writes an absorbing, challenging treatise on the power of written language to separate human beings from their experiential relationship to the nonhuman environment ... Read full review
Other editions - View all
The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human World David Abram Limited preview - 2012 |
The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human World David Abram Limited preview - 1997 |
Common terms and phrases
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Bibliographic information
| Title | The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human World |
| Author | David Abram |
| Edition | reprint |
| Publisher | Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 1997 |
| ISBN | 0679776397, 9780679776390 |
| Length | 368 pages |
| Subjects | › › › Language Arts & Disciplines / Linguistics / Psycholinguistics / General Nature / Ecology Philosophy / Movements / Phenomenology |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |