Eye Chart - Couverture souple

Germano, Professor William

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 1501312340 ISBN 13 : 9781501312342

Editeur : Bloomsbury Academic, 2017

Synopsis

Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.

Desert nomads tested their vision by distinguishing a pair of stars. But we have since created more disquieting ways to test the strength of the eyes.

Reading the eye chart is an exercise in failure, since it only gets interesting when you cannot read any further. It is the opposite of interpretative reading, like one does with literature. When you have finished reading an eye chart, what exactly have you even read? From a Spanish cleric's Renaissance guide to testing vision, to a Dutch ophthalmologist's innovation in optical tech, to the witty subversion of the eye chart in advertising and popular culture, William Germano's Eye Chart lets people see the eye chart at last.

Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.

A propos du livre

À propos de l'auteur

William Germano is Professor of English Literature at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, USA. His previous publications include The Tales of Hoffmann (2013) and Getting It Published: A Guide for Scholars and Anyone Else Serious about Serious Books (3rd edition, 2016). He writes a biweekly language blog for the Chronicle of Higher Education.

À propos de la quatrième de couverture

Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. What's an eye chart and how does it work? Desert nomads tested their vision by distinguishing a pair of stars, but we've created more anxiety-provoking ways to test the strength of our eyes. Encompassing a Spanish cleric's Renaissance guide to testing vision, a Dutch ophthalmologist's innovation in optical tech, and the witty subversion of the eye chart in advertising and popular culture, Eye Chart is an essay on the sharp, the fuzzy, and the invisible. It's about that familiar thing we read partially, and with difficulty. Reading the eye chart is an exercise in failure, since it only gets interesting when you can't read any further. To read the eye chart is the opposite of interpretative reading. You're supposed to read it up (the way we might use something up or eat it up). But you can't. It's like the shortest longest book in the world. Eye Chart is about that lesson in failure and unreadability that finally lets us see things.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Bloomsbury Academic
• Date d'édition: 2017
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 1501312340
• ISBN 13: 9781501312342
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 192
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: WordUnited GmbH; distribution@wordunited.com; ; Theodorstrasse 105; DUSSELDORF; 40472; Allemagne