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. |
Contents
The Ecology of Magic | 3 |
Philosophy on the way to Ecology | 31 |
The Flesh of Language | 73 |
Animism and the Alphabet | 93 |
In the Landscape of Language | 137 |
Time Space and the Eclipse of the Earth | 181 |
The Forgetting and Remembering of the Air | 225 |
Turning Inside Out | 261 |
Notes | 275 |
305 | |
315 | |
Other editions - View all
The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human World David Abram Limited preview - 2012 |
Common terms and phrases
according active alphabet already American ancient animals Apache awareness become begin birds body breath character continually culture depths dimension direct directly ears earth emergence encounter entirely entities evident existence experience experienced expressive eyes feel felt field forest future gestures Greek ground Hebrew horizon human indigenous influence instance invisible knowledge Koyukon land landscape language later letters linguistic living magic meaning Merleau-Ponty mind move names nature Navajo never North object once one's oral original ourselves participation particular past perceive perception person phenomena philosophical plants possible precisely present Press purely realm relation remains seems senses sensible sensory sensuous shapes shift simply song sounds space speak specific speech spoken stories structure surrounding term terrain things thought tion traditional trees turn University various visible voice Western whole Wind writing written