The Culture of the Copy: Striking Likenesses, Unreasonable Facsimiles

by Hillel Schwartz

Overview

The Culture of the Copy is an unprecedented attempt to make sense of the Western fascination with replicas, duplicates, and twins. In a work that is breathtaking in its synthetic and critical achievements, Hillel Schwartz charts the repercussions of our entanglement with copies of all kinds, whose presence alternately sustains and overwhelms us.

Through intriguing, and at times humorous, historical analysis and case studies in contemporary culture, Schwartz investigates a stunning array of simulacra—counterfeits, decoys, mannequins, and portraits; ditto marks, genetic cloning, war games, and camouflage; instant replays, digital imaging, parrots, and photocopies; wax museums, apes, and art forgeries, not to mention the very notion of the Real McCoy.

Working through a range of theories on biological, mechanical, and electronic reproduction, Schwartz questions the modern esteem for authenticity and uniqueness. The Culture of the Copy shows how the ethical dilemmas central to so many fields of endeavor have become inseparable from our pursuit of copies—of the natural world, of our own creations, indeed of our very selves.

This updated edition takes notice of recent shifts in thought with regard to such issues as biological cloning, conjoined twins, copyright, digital reproduction, and multiple personality disorder. At once abbreviated and refined, it will be of interest to anyone concerned with proglems of authenticity, identity, and originality.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781935408512
Publisher:	Zone Books
Publication date:	11/01/1996
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	472
File size:	9 MB

About the Author

Hillel Schwartz is the author of Making Noise: From Babel to the Big Bang and Beyond.

Table of Contents

Refrain, Again 9

The Real McCoy was not

I Vanishing Twins 19

II Doppelgangers 43

III Self-Portraits 75

IV Second Nature 17

V Seeing Double 145

VI Ditto 175

VII Once More, with Feeling 217

VIII Discernment 265

Encore 315

Acknowledgments

The Parallel Universe 317

Notes

Index 447

What People are Saying About This

New York Times Book Review - Francis Kane

If God is in the details, then this book is surely divine or, at least,
demonic. Siamese twins and doppelgängers, parrots andapes, decoys and mannequins,
robots and clones, impostors and pretenders are but a few of the stops on this dizzying and dazzling tour de force of every conceivable trompe l'oeil.

Endorsement

If God is in the details, then this book is surely divine or, at least, demonic. Siamese twins and doppelgängers, parrots andapes, decoys and mannequins, robots and clones, impostors and pretenders are but a few of the stops on this dizzying and dazzling tour de force of every conceivable trompe l'oeil.

—Francis Kane, New York Times Book Review

From the Publisher

If God is in the details, then this book is surely divine or, at least, demonic. Siamese twins and doppelgängers, parrots andapes, decoys and mannequins, robots and clones, impostors and pretenders are but a few of the stops on this dizzying and dazzling tour de force of every conceivable trompe l'oeil.—Francis Kane, New York Times Book Review

Editorial Reviews

In this blend of microsociology, cultural history, and philosophical reflection, intriguing historical analyses and case studies from contemporary culture shed light on an amazing variety of simulacra, including mannequins, sex dolls, imposters and clones, war games, computer simulations, instant replays, art forgeries, wax museums, apes, parrots, photocopies, and decoys. The author looks at our obsession with copies of all kinds and its troubling repercussions. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Booknews

If God is in the details, then this book is surely divine or, at least, demonic. Siamese twins and doppelgangers, parrots and apes, decoys and mannequins, robots and clones, impostors and pretenders are but a few of the stops on this dizzying and dazzling tour de force of every conceivable trompe l'oeil."
--Francis Kane

New York Times Book Review

"In The Culture of the Copy, [Schwartz] has written the perfect book: original and repetitive at once."

|Los Angeles Times

"The author . . . brings his considerable synthetic powers to bear on our uneasy preoccupation with doubles, likenesses, facsimiles, replicas and re-enactments. I doubt that these cultural phenomena have ever been more comprehensively or more creatively chronicled . . . . A book that gets you to see the world anew, again."

The New York Times

". . . a sprightly and disconcerting piece of culture history."

London Review of Books

The author…brings his considerable synthetic powers to bear on our uneasy preoccupation with doubles, likenesses, facsimiles, replicas and re-enactments. I doubt that these cultural phenomena have ever been more comprehensively or more creatively chronicled…. A book that gets you to see the world anew, again.

—New York Times

A sprightly and disconcerting piece of cultural history.

—London Review of Books

InThe Culture of the Copy, [Schwartz] has written the perfect book: original and repetitive at once.

—Los Angeles Times

From the Publisher

InThe Culture of the Copy, [Schwartz] has written the perfect book: original and repetitive at once.

—Los Angeles Times

Reviews