Book Review: Imagination and Art: Explorations in Contemporary Theory, (2020). Edited by Keith Moser and Ananta Ch. Sukla. Brill Rodopi

Dan Manolescu

doi:10.46809/jcsll.v2i2.56

Abstract

Aristotle thought that phantasia (imagination), perception, and mind were equally important. In one of his works, Aristotle described imagination as “that virtue of which an image occurs in us.” (De Anima iii 3 – 428aa1-2) The notion of what Cicero called “the mind’s eye” has recently been researched quite extensively as a “transdisciplinary project” in a solid and elegant collection of essays entitled Imagination and Art: Explorations in Contemporary Theory (2020) edited by Keith Moser and Ananta Ch. Sukla, who worked with an eclectic group of international researchers to compile a comprehensive study of the various facets of imagination. Organized in nine parts and presenting 38 essays, this collection is the most comprehensive contribution to the contemporary concept of imagination to date.

Highlights

Aristotle thought that phantasia, perception, and mind were important
As Keith Moser asserts in his introduction, a major contribution of this book is its fresh approach to the idea that “the study of imagination is a quintessential inter-discipline bifurcating in all directions that seemingly knows no bounds.” (p. 2) “Gendered imagination”, the biosemiotic imagination, the Sufi imagination, and the notion of “imaginative resistance” inspired by Freud’s theory of repression are just some examples of sections that are epitomized as “novel frames of reference.”
In an obviously praising effort, the editor finds names such as David Collins, Michel Dion, Samuel Kimball, and Chandra Kavanagh, who widely recognize this special power of imagination in studies of “how human identity is mediated, constructed, and renegotiated through imagination.” (p. 3)