![The Object Stares Back: On the Nature of Seeing](https://d3525k1ryd2155.cloudfront.net/h/202/963/1493963202.0.m.jpg)
The Object Stares Back: On the Nature of Seeing
by Elkins, James
- Used
- Very Good
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Very Good/Very Good
- ISBN 10
- 0684800950
- ISBN 13
- 9780684800950
- Seller
-
Santa Barbara, California, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996. 271 pages, illustrations; 24 cm. Tight, clean copy. Dogeared a couple of times. Dust jacket with light edgewear. "At first it appears that nothing could be easier than seeing. We just focus our eyes and take in whatever is before us. This ability seems detached, efficient, and rational - as if the eyes are competent machines telling us everything about the world without distorting it in any way. But those ideas are just illusions, Elkins argues, and he suggests that seeing is undependable, inconsistent, and caught up in the threads of the unconscious. Blindness is not the opposite of vision, but its constant companion, and even the foundation of seeing itself. Elkins asks about objects that are too violent, too sexually charged, or too beautiful to look at directly. When we see a naked body, we either stare lasciviously or look away in embarrassment: in those moments our eyes are not ours to command. Bodies, Elkins says, are among the fundamental things that the eye seeks in every scene: when we are presented with something new, we first try to find a body, or the echoes of a body, and if we fail, our seeing becomes restless and nomadic. The same is true of things that are dead or inert. The world is full of objects that catch our eye, and that seem to have eyes of their own. The sun is an eye, perhaps the most powerful of all. It sees us as much as we see it, and when we stare at it, the sun stares back. Using drawings, paintings, diagrams, and photographs to illustrate his points, Elkins raises intriguing questions and offers astonishing perceptions about the nature of vision. Ultimately, he concludes, 'Seeing alters the thing that is seen and transforms the seer'--As this remarkable book will transform the viewpoints of all who read it." - Publisher.. 1st. Hardcover. Very Good/Very Good. 8vo.
Synopsis
In this “remarkable tour de force” (Publishers Weekly)-a “ceaselessly thought-provoking book” (Kirkus Reviews)-art historian James Elkins marshals psychology, philosophy, science, and art history to show how seeing alters the thing seen and transforms the seer. Black-and-white photographs.
Reviews
(Log in or Create an Account first!)
Details
- Bookseller
- LEFT COAST BOOKS
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 105843
- Title
- The Object Stares Back: On the Nature of Seeing
- Author
- Elkins, James
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Very Good
- Jacket Condition
- Very Good
- Edition
- 1st
- ISBN 10
- 0684800950
- ISBN 13
- 9780684800950
- Publisher
- Simon & Schuster
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 1996
- Size
- 8vo
- Bookseller catalogs
- Aesthetics;
Terms of Sale
LEFT COAST BOOKS
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including original shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
LEFT COAST BOOKS
Biblio member since 2016
Santa Barbara, California
About LEFT COAST BOOKS
Established in Santa Barbara, California, in 2004, Left Coast Books specializes in ART BOOKS, offering thousands of titles on painting, sculpture, graphic arts, architecture, design, photography, film, video, and performance art. We also sell classics, literature, history, and a broad variety of useful academic books.