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Reviews
The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human World by David Abram
bittersweet_symphony's review
5.0
Abram taps into the ancient wisdom of oral and indigenous cultures. He outlines how the written word and phonetic language have contributed heavily to divorcing the modern western mind from the natural world. He uses phenomenology and etymology to show what has been lost as humans have silenced the voices of the the earth's landscape.
He draws from the Navajo, Hopi, Mayan, Aboriginal, Plains Indians, Yukon, Hebrew, and Greek traditions to reveal the forgotten power found in reading the landscape, talking with the trees, listening to the wind, and finding meaning in stories rather than static language. He hurls challenges at the underlying assumptions that uphold the modern mindset.
Abram focuses almost exclusively on the worth of oral cultures and the environment, but undervalues technological advances and the boons of the market. He also only pays lip service to the joys never possible for exclusively oral cultures.
His language is challenging and probably too erudite. However, Abram uses modern and acceptable means to awaken us to our primordial past: the natural world as a living, breathing, spiritually unifying being.
He draws from the Navajo, Hopi, Mayan, Aboriginal, Plains Indians, Yukon, Hebrew, and Greek traditions to reveal the forgotten power found in reading the landscape, talking with the trees, listening to the wind, and finding meaning in stories rather than static language. He hurls challenges at the underlying assumptions that uphold the modern mindset.
Abram focuses almost exclusively on the worth of oral cultures and the environment, but undervalues technological advances and the boons of the market. He also only pays lip service to the joys never possible for exclusively oral cultures.
His language is challenging and probably too erudite. However, Abram uses modern and acceptable means to awaken us to our primordial past: the natural world as a living, breathing, spiritually unifying being.
novabird's review
5.0
Read as a required read in my Intro to Philosophy course when I was enrolled as a mature student. The prof also had us go out into nature and keep a log of our felt experiences. It both validated and changed me.
hudikatz's review
5.0
FIREE: "Meanwhile, New Age spiritualism regularly privileges pure sentience, or subjectivity, in abstraction from sensible
matter, and often maintains that material reality is itself an illusory effect caused by an immaterial
mind or spirit. Although commonly seen as opposed world-views, both of these positions assume a
qualitative difference between the sentient and the sensed; by prioritizing one or the other, both of
these views perpetuate the distinction between human “subjects” and natural “objects,” and hence
neither threatens the common conception of sensible nature as a purely passive dimension suitable
for human manipulation and use. While both of these views are unstable, each bolsters the other; by
bouncing from one to the other—from scientific determinism to spiritual idealism and back again—
contemporary discourse easily avoids the possibility that both the perceiving being and the
perceived being are of the same stuff, that the perceiver and the perceived are interdependent and in
some sense even reversible aspects of a common animate element, or Flesh, that is at once both
sensible and sensitive" (48).
matter, and often maintains that material reality is itself an illusory effect caused by an immaterial
mind or spirit. Although commonly seen as opposed world-views, both of these positions assume a
qualitative difference between the sentient and the sensed; by prioritizing one or the other, both of
these views perpetuate the distinction between human “subjects” and natural “objects,” and hence
neither threatens the common conception of sensible nature as a purely passive dimension suitable
for human manipulation and use. While both of these views are unstable, each bolsters the other; by
bouncing from one to the other—from scientific determinism to spiritual idealism and back again—
contemporary discourse easily avoids the possibility that both the perceiving being and the
perceived being are of the same stuff, that the perceiver and the perceived are interdependent and in
some sense even reversible aspects of a common animate element, or Flesh, that is at once both
sensible and sensitive" (48).
lakserk's review
5.0
Amazing book, in both conception and execution, it is justly considered a staple in a multitude of academic departments, from environmental science to performative arts and everything in between. A passionate tracing of the way language, especially in its written, alphabetic form, shapes the relationship of humans to the non-human environment. A most important work.
desertmichelle's review
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
5.0
Quick Review: This book was beautiful and ended up being more than I expected it to me. I left it feeling hopeful and encouraged that we can do better in this world. I want more people like this!
tlindhorst's review
5.0
This was a dense & challenging book to read, but the rewards are manifold. When an author drives so deeply outside of “conventional” ideas, the work provokes new ideas in many realms. This book was philosophical, theological, anthropological & unique.
proseamongstthorns's review
5.0
This review is a little different. Rather than reviewing a book I've read for fun, this one is the latest academic text I've read for my MRes dissertation. The Spell of the Sensuous is a beautiful exploration of magic, environment and the animal world within indigenous cultures.
'Direct sensuous reality, in all its more-than-human mystery, remains the sole solid touchstone for an experiential world now inundated with electronically-generated vistas and engineered pleasures; only in regular contact with the tangible ground and sky can we learn how to orient and to navigate in the multiple dimensions that now claim us' (Abrams, 1996, p. x)
I've never come away from an academic text feeling awed, but Abrams manages to do this. His writing style is beautiful, balancing academic and colloquial writing wonderfully. Every line resonated with me and I often found myself reading the text out-loud in order to fully appreciate it.
Most academic/theoretical/critical texts leave me with a headache and, often, feeling more confused than I was before. This was not the case with Abrams' work; each chapter leads into each other, creating a natural progression through his work. You are eased into the deep discussion of time and space and how this relates into the written word, by the time you reach this part of the text it seems like a natural evolution. Never before have I enjoyed an academic text to the extent that I have this one. I will almost certainly be purchasing my own copy.
If you have an interest in indigenous culture, human relationship with the nonhuman, or the history and importance of the written word, then this book is a must read. Or maybe you're studying English (Lit) at Uni and want to take a look at this critical text. Either way, I can't recommend this enough. Reading this book has helped shape my MRes and sparked my PhD topic too.
'Direct sensuous reality, in all its more-than-human mystery, remains the sole solid touchstone for an experiential world now inundated with electronically-generated vistas and engineered pleasures; only in regular contact with the tangible ground and sky can we learn how to orient and to navigate in the multiple dimensions that now claim us' (Abrams, 1996, p. x)
I've never come away from an academic text feeling awed, but Abrams manages to do this. His writing style is beautiful, balancing academic and colloquial writing wonderfully. Every line resonated with me and I often found myself reading the text out-loud in order to fully appreciate it.
Most academic/theoretical/critical texts leave me with a headache and, often, feeling more confused than I was before. This was not the case with Abrams' work; each chapter leads into each other, creating a natural progression through his work. You are eased into the deep discussion of time and space and how this relates into the written word, by the time you reach this part of the text it seems like a natural evolution. Never before have I enjoyed an academic text to the extent that I have this one. I will almost certainly be purchasing my own copy.
If you have an interest in indigenous culture, human relationship with the nonhuman, or the history and importance of the written word, then this book is a must read. Or maybe you're studying English (Lit) at Uni and want to take a look at this critical text. Either way, I can't recommend this enough. Reading this book has helped shape my MRes and sparked my PhD topic too.
caitlinjclarke's review
5.0
Spell of the sensuous explores how bodies, languages, cultures and individual persons (and things) all come to understand the world around them. This book is insightful because Abram explores the many sensuous and porous ways of understanding the landscape, through an examination of self, stories, philosophies, individuals and cultural stories. I have learnt so much from this book.