EAN: 9780679776390

THE SPELL OF THE SENSUOUS - DAVID ABRAM KARTONI...

Winner 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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