Turning Away: The Poetics of an Ancient Gesture

Author/Contributor(s):	Saltzman, Benjamin A
Publisher:	University of Chicago Press
Date:	03/31/2026
Binding:	Paperback
Condition:	NEW

"Few human gestures are as universal, recognizable, yet ambiguous as the averted gaze--the face turned away or covered in horror, fear, or shame. The gesture arises from within but it is also a performance, partaking at once of the interior and the social. Benjamin A. Saltzman discusses gestures of aversion in ancient and medieval literature and art to unpack their meanings and illuminate the history of affective aesthetics. The book ranges widely, from important "scenes of aversion" from Leontius's ambivalence in Plato's Republic (ca. 375 BCE) to the grief surrounding Christ's Crucifixion in early modern drawings and frescos (ca. 500-1600), and to some contemporary reimaginings, including paintings by Marc Chagall and photographs by Rotimi Fani-Kayode and Susan Meiselas, with illuminating discussions of Eakins, Goya, and van Gogh along the way. It will be of interest to a wide range of humanities scholars interested in the connection between literature and visual art"-- Provided by publisher.