Seeing Through Madness

An insightful reconsideration of our historical moment seen through the lens of madness.In Seeing Through Madness, W. J. T. Mitchell pursues the idea of “putting madness to work” by transforming it from an individual affliction—an illness to be treated—into a critical framework for understanding the human condition. The human species is now a danger to itself and others—the very definition of mental disorder in most societies. Therefore, it is time, Mitchell argues, for a fundamental reconsideration of madness, not only as a subject in media and the arts but more fundamentally as a “critical optic” on our historical moment. It is time to see through madness in all its variations, to see by means of it as a template for understanding, and to see it through to some form of wisdom. While drawing a sense of urgency from Mitchell’s conviction that the whole world is experiencing a widespread political madness, the book specifically focuses on American psychoses and collective disorders, not least the country’s delusional exceptionalism. Incisive, eclectic, and occasionally enraged, Mitchell’s essays are the guide we need to see us through crazy times.