The stunning debut of Jonathan Rée, the Simon
Schama of philosophy. ‘I See A Voice is a joy to read:
bold, crisp in style, effortlessly erudite, slyly
humorous, passionate and humane.’ Roy Porter,
Independent
‘Rée writes with such clarity and
elegance that his prose is a pleasure to read. His
exploration of the world of the deaf demonstrates that
their tragic deprivation of one sense illumines our
understanding of the others. His study of sign language
gives us unparalleled insight into the nature of spoken
language… this book is not only a fascinating history of
the belated correction of our misperceptions of the
deaf, but a demonstration that philosophy really can
advance our understanding of the world and ourselves.’
Anthony Storr, Literary Review
‘Some philosophers
take difficulty and try to make it simple, but Rée takes
what is apparently mundane and undeniably everyday and
makes it hard and wonderful. Reading his book, I had to
sit at a table, with a pen and notebook, jotting down
things I had never thought about before – asking myself
how it was that I had lived with this commonsense all my
life, yet never been in possession of its meanings… Rée
treats philosophy the way Adam Phillips treats
psychoanalysis: he scrutinises the everyday and the
commonplace and charges them with significance.
Psychoanalysis and the writings of Freud flood into his
text, along with the poetry of Wordsworth, the writings
of Proust, his own poignant memories of things past. The
melancholy richness of his writing soaks up the culture
of the late twentieth century: its emphasis on
subjectivity and uncertainity; its sense of the
individual; its receptivity to other forms; its
confessionalism and belief in self scrutiny… in his
passionate, fascinating philosophical history of
language, deafness and the senses.’ Nicci Gerrard,
Observer
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