Textures of Light: Vision and Touch in Irigaray, Levinas and Merleau Ponty

166 Pages·1998·3.03 MB·English

by  Cathryn Vasseleu

Textures of Light

Textures of Light draws on the work of Luce Irigaray, Maurice Merleau-Ponty and
Emmanuel Levinas to present an outstanding and ground-breaking study of the
importance of light in Western thought. Since Plato’s allegory of the cave, light and the
role of sight have been accorded a unique position in this tradition. They have stood as
a metaphor for truth and objectivity and the very axis of modern rationalism. More
recently, however, this status has come under significant criticism from Continental and
feminist thought which has stressed the privileging of subjectivity and masculinity in
such a metaphor.
In Textures of Light Cathryn Vasseleu shows the ambivalent role light plays within
philosophy. She challenges current interpretations of Luce Irigaray as an antivisual
theorist by presenting her as a philosopher of both touch and vision. She also draws upon
Merleau-Ponty’s anti-Platonic claims for the corporeal and social context of the visual,
and discusses Levinas’s critique of light as ‘first experience’. Throughout, the tension
between vision and touch is carefully and clearly explored in a compelling re-reading
of these often opposed senses that relates them to the texture of light as an organizing
principle.
Textures of Light opens up new debates within Continental and feminist philosophy. It
will also be valuable reading for anyone interested in visual studies and philosophical
issues involving touch and vision.
Cathryn Vasseleu is a Vice Chancellor’s Research Fellow in Philosophy at the University
of New South Wales.
Warwick Studies in European
Philosophy

Edited by Andrew Benjamin
Professor in Philosophy, University of Warwick
This series presents the best and most original work being done within the European
philosophical tradition. The books included in the series seek not merely to reflect what
is taking place within European philosophy; rather they will contribute to the growth
and development of that plural tradition. Work written in the English language as well
as translations into English are to be included, engaging the tradition at all levels –
whether by introductions that show the contemporary philosophical force of certain
works, or in collections that explore an important thinker or topic, as well as in
significant contributions that call for their own critical evaluation.
Textures of Light

Vision and Touch in Irigaray, Levinas
and Merleau-Ponty

Cathryn Vasseleu

London and New York
First published 1998
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE

This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2002.
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY10001

© 1998 Cathryn Vasseleu

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book has been requested

ISBN 0-415-14273-3 (hbk)
ISBN 0-415-14274-1 (pbk)
ISBN 0-203-04770-2 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-22362-4 (Glassbook Format)
Contents

Acknowledgements vii
Part I True Light
1 Introduction 3
Part II Carnal Light
2 Introduction to Merleau-Ponty 21
3 Living Flesh 26
4 Vision in the Flesh 41
5 Touching Flesh 60
Part III Perverse Light
6 Introduction to Levinas 75
7 Scintillating Lighting 78
8 The Lightness of Touch 98
9 Illuminating Passion 109
Part IV Erotic Light
10 Conclusion 123
Notes 129
Bibliography 142
Index 153

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Moira Gatens and George Markus for their generous and much
appreciated involvement in the development of ideas that have culminated in this book.
I am also indebted to Rosalyn Diprose, Linnell Secomb, Jodi Brooks, Elizabeth Grosz,
Penelope Deutscher and Robyn Ferrell for countless vital comments and exchanges, and
for extending to me their invaluable friendship and intellectual support. I would
especially like to express my appreciation to Kate Gilroy, without whose care, humour
and many insights the book would not have made it to the light of day. It has been a
pleasure to work with my series editor, Andrew Benjamin, and with Adrian Driscoll,
Tony Bruce and Katherine Hodkinson at Routledge. Thanks also to friends, colleagues
and family who have given so freely of their attention and knowledge in the course of
writing – Andrew Flatau, Judy Quinn, Anne Sefton, Jennifer Biddle, Margot Nash, Denise
Robinson, Natalie Pelham, Margaret Ellis, Sue O’Connor, Linda Allen, Mary and Jim
Vasseleu, and Tigger.
A portion of the text has appeared as ‘Illuminating Passion: Irigaray’s Transfiguration
of Night’, in Teresa Brennan and Martin Jay (eds), Vision in Context, New York and London:
Routledge, 1996.

Part I
TRUE LIGHT