Last years impeachment of President Bill Clinton demonstrated the paradox butdid not begin to explain it.How is it that private matters are analyzed endlessly i... » 

Last years impeachment of President Bill Clinton demonstrated the paradox butdid not begin to explain it.How is it that private matters are analyzed endlessly in public forums on adaily basis? Why is it assumed that getting a life means having a privaterelationship? Intended to unravel some of the tangled relations that fall underthe broad category of intimacy this provocative collection of sixteen essaysarticulates the ways in which intimate lives are connected with theinstitutions ideologies and desires that organize peoples worlds.Locating its domain in the familiar spaces of friendship love sex familyand feeling at home Intimacy also examines the estrangement betrayalloneliness and even violence that may accompany the demise of relationshipsboth personal and political. These include intimacies among strangers such ashappens in times of national scandal or habits of everyday life. Thecontributors to this volume traverse many disciplines and cultures trackingthe processes by which intimate lives absorb and repel the dominant rhetoriclaw ethics and ideologies of public spheres. Drawing on examples fromcontemporary culture history art literature and music this bookilluminates the ways in which intimacy has become linked with stories ofcitizenship capitalism aesthetic forms and the writing of history. As itchallenges conventional notions of private life Intimacy is sure to sparkcontroversy about its institutions as well.Some of these essays in this book were previously published in an awardwinningissue of the journal Critical Inquiry.Contributors include Lauren Berlant Svetlana Boym Steven Feld DeborahR.Grayson Michael Hanchard Dagmar Herzog Annamarie Jagose Laura KipnisLaura Letinsky Biddy Martin Maureen McLane Mary Poovey Elizabeth A.Povinelli Eve Kosovsky Sedgwick Joel Snyder Candace Vogler Michael Warnerand others. «