Steven Connor Libri

It is a paradox of American life that we are a highly urbanized nation filled with people deeply ambivalent about urban life.

Many human beings have considered the powers and the limits of human knowledge, but few have wondered about the power that the idea of knowledge has over us. Steven Connor’s The Madness of Knowledge is the first book to investigate this emotional inner life of knowledge—the lusts, fantasies, dreams, and fears that the idea of knowing provokes. There are in-depth discussions of the imperious will to know, of Freud’s epistemophilia (or love of knowledge), and the curiously insistent links between madness, magical thinking, and the desire for knowledge. Connor also probes secrets and revelations, quarreling and the history of quizzes and “general knowledge,” charlatanry and pretension, both the violent disdain and the sanctification of the stupid, as well as the emotional investment in the spaces and places of knowledge, from the study to the library. In an age of artificial intelligence, alternative facts, and mistrust of truth, The Madness of Knowledge offers an opulent, enlarging, and sometimes unnerving psychopathology of intellectual life.

In this broadly conceived study Steven Conn examines the development of American museums across the twentieth century with a historian's attention and a critic's eye. He focuses on an array of museum types and asks illuminating questions about the relationship between museums and American cultural life.

Delving into the narratives and significance of ordinary items, this book offers a whimsical journey through the hidden stories that define our daily experiences. It uncovers how these seemingly mundane objects influence our lives, reflecting culture and personal history. Through a blend of humor and insight, the author invites readers to reconsider their relationship with the items they often take for granted.

Many human beings have considered the powers and the limits of human knowledge, but few have wondered about the power that the idea of knowledge has over us. Steven Connor’s The Madness of Knowledge is the first book to investigate this emotional inner life of knowledge—the lusts, fantasies, dreams, and fears that the idea of knowing provokes. There are in-depth discussions of the imperious will to know, of Freud’s epistemophilia (or love of knowledge), and the curiously insistent links between madness, magical thinking, and the desire for knowledge. Connor also probes secrets and revelations, quarreling and the history of quizzes and “general knowledge,” charlatanry and pretension, both the violent disdain and the sanctification of the stupid, as well as the emotional investment in the spaces and places of knowledge, from the study to the library. In an age of artificial intelligence, alternative facts, and mistrust of truth, The Madness of Knowledge offers an opulent, enlarging, and sometimes unnerving psychopathology of intellectual life.

Featuring a series of insightful essays, this collection delves into the works of Samuel Beckett, offering a scholarly perspective on his contributions to twentieth-century literature and culture. The essays provide in-depth analysis and interpretation, highlighting Beckett's unique style and themes, making it an essential resource for students and enthusiasts of modern literature.

Providing a new philosophical understanding of sport, which defines what sport essentially is and means by setting out a complete grammar of sport, treating in turn its essential elements, A Philosophy of Sport will inform, surprise and delight those who have always thought sport should be taken more seriously.

Irish Officers in the British forces, 1922-45 looks at the reasons why young Irish people took the king's commission, including the family tradition, the school influence and the employment motive. It explores their subsequent experiences in the forces and the responses in independent Ireland to the continuation of this British military connection.

Living by Numbers: In Defence of Quantity explores the many ways in which we live in, and by, a world of numbers. Steven Connor discusses how numbers play a part in all aspects of life, from dealing with crowds to jokes, music, and painting.

Dream Machines is a history of the ways in which machines have been imagined. It considers seven different kinds of speculative, projected or impossible machine: machines for teleportation, dream-production, sexual pleasure and medical treatment and cure, along with 'influencing machines', invisibility machines and perpetual motion machines.