The Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben has always been an original reader of te
xts, understanding their many rich historical, aesthetic, and political meanings
and effects. In "Profanations," Agamben has assembled for the first time some o
f his most pivotal essays on photography, the novel, and film. A meditation on m
emory and oblivion, on what is lost and what remains, "Profanations "proves yet
again that Agamben is one of the most provocative writers of our time. In ten es
says, Agamben ponders a series of literary and philosophical problems: the relat
ion among genius, ego, and theories of subjectivity; the problem of messianic ti
me as explicated in both images and lived experience; parody as a literary parad
igm; and the potential of magic to provide an ethical canon.
