The Acoustic Mirror
The Female Voice in Psychoanalysis and Cinema
Description:... "... a vitally new understanding that takes us from the terms of the representation of sexual difference to an anatomy of female subjectivity which will be widely influential." -- Stephen Heath
"An original work likely to have significant impact on all those with an interest in the vibrant intersection of feminism, film theory, and psychoanalysis... " -- Naomi Schor
"... powerfully argued study... impressive... " -- Choice
"... important because of its innovative work on Hollywood's ideologically-charged construction of subjectivity.... what is exciting about The Acoustic Mirror is that it inspires one to reevaluate a number of now classical theoretical texts, and to see films with an eye to how authorship is constructed and subjectivity is generated." -- Literature and Psychology
"As evocative as it is shrewdly systematic, the pioneering theory of female subjectivity formulated in the final three chapters will have wide impact as a major contribution to feminist theory." -- SubStance
The Acoustic Mirror attempts to do for the sound-track what feminist film theory of the past decade has done for the image-track -- to locate the points at which it is productive of sexual difference. The specific focus is the female voice understood not merely as spoken dialogue, narration, and commentary, but as a fantasmatic projection, and as a metaphor for authorship.
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