About the book, from the publisher:Spanning nearly 500 years of cultural and social history, this book examines the ways that literature and surveillance have developed together, as kindred modern practices. As ideas about personhood—what constitutes a self—have changed over time, so too have ideas about how to represent, shape, or invade the self. The authors show that, since the Renaissance, changes in observation strategies have driven innovations in literature; literature, in turn, has provided a laboratory and forum for the way we think about surveillance and privacy. Ultimately, they contend that the habits of mind cultivated by literature make rational and self-aware participation in contemporary surveillance environments possible. In a society increasingly dominated by interlocking surveillance systems, these habits of mind are consequently necessary for fully realized liberal citizenship.Learn more about The Watchman in Pieces at the Yale University Press website.
In his review, Ray Taras called The Watchman in Pieces "an extraordinarily intelligent study, and a gem of philosophic reflection on individuals and society."
The Page 99 Test: The Watchman in Pieces.
--Marshal Zeringue
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