Abstract

What does it mean to talk about subjectivity in the language of space, and what are the political implications of doing so? A provocative and illuminating work, Indifferent Boundaries explores the ways that concepts of subjectivity are vitally grounded in metaphors of and assumptions about space. Kathleen Kirby demonstrates how changes that have taken place in real and conceptual space from the Renaissance to the postmodern era have led to a critical rearticulation of the subject by feminist, psychoanalytic, and poststructuralist theorists, among others. Tracing changing ideas about the self--from the stable form of the Enlightenment individual to the postmodern sujet en procès--Kirby appraises both the liberatory possibilities and the everyday cultural implications of the contemporary "space of the subject." This tenacious and substantive investigation of the lexicon of space sheds much needed light in previously dark corners of the poststructuralist edifice, and is certain to appeal to a broad, interdisciplinary audience.