Susanne Kappeler – författare

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This book marks a radical and powerful intervention in traditional arguments about pornography. Kappeler re-examines the artistic distinctions between fantasy and reality, pornography and erotica, and challenges the legal definition of obscenity as well as the intellectual defence of 'freedom of expression'. By linking images of actual violence with the imaginative portrayal of women in the realm of the aesthetic, she establishes vital connections between modes of representation and social forms of power and domination. It is essential reading for anyone concerned with issues of pornography and sexual politics and related debates in literary criticism and cultural studies.

This is a major contribution to feminist theory and debate, addressing issues such as sexual violence, social violence and hatred of foreigners in a lucid and highly original way.

First published in 1983, Teaching the Text explores the issue of teaching and the question of theory and its relation to practice. The chapters reflect the reality of teaching in a university English department, both for teachers and students, making clear the criteria of teaching, not only through the variety of contributors and approaches but also through the range of different texts and subjects offered.The subjects covered include Troilus and Cressida, Macbeth, The Duchess of Malfi, Milton’s use of language, and William Collins’ ‘Ode to Evening’. There are essays on Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, on Emerson and Hawthorne, and on Dorothy Richardson’s novels. Also discussed are Robert Musil’s Törless, Sartre’s La Nausée and the work of Gabriel García Márquez.