Catherine Clement
Syncope: The Philosophy of Rapture

In this collection of essays, philosopher Catherine Clement explores the idea of syncopation as an interruption of time in music, spirituality, sexuality and theater. Clement leaves no stone left unturned looking deeply into moments where one can experience a suspension in time from depression, schizophrenia, aesthetic renunciation, and orgasmic ecstasy. She parallels the quest of the artist to the vision of the mystic and overlays the very premises operating at the core of Western and Eastern philosophical traditions.