{"product_id":"the-privilege-of-being-banal-elayne-oliphant-9780226731261","title":"The Privilege of Being Banal: Art, Secularism, and Catholicism in Paris","description":"France, officially, is a secular nation. Yet Catholicism is undeniably a monumental presence, defining the temporal and spatial rhythms of Paris. At the same time, it often fades into the background as nothing more than \"heritage.\" In a creative inversion, Elayne Oliphant asks in \u003ci\u003eThe Privilege of Being Banal \u003c\/i\u003ewhat, exactly, is hiding in plain sight? Could the banality of Catholicism actually be a kind of hidden power? \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Exploring the violent histories and alternate trajectories effaced through this banal backgrounding of a crucial aspect of French history and culture, this richly textured ethnography lays bare the profound nostalgia that undergirds Catholicism's circulation in nonreligious sites such as museums, corporate spaces, and political debates. Oliphant's aim is to unravel the contradictions of religion and secularism and, in the process, show how aesthetics and politics come together in contemporary France to foster the kind of banality that Hannah Arendt warned against: the incapacity to take on another person's experience of the world. A creative meditation on the power of the taken-for-granted, \u003ci\u003eThe Privilege of Being Banal \u003c\/i\u003eis a landmark study of religion, aesthetics, and public space. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Elayne Oliphant\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 022673126X\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780226731261\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Chicago Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 04\/06\/2021\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 280\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.85lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.60d","brand":"Elayne Oliphant","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":43978478747903,"sku":"9780226731261","price":32.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_4bd300b5-2a95-49cb-b109-8407070ad410.jpg?v=1683241760","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-privilege-of-being-banal-elayne-oliphant-9780226731261","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}