When you are half lost in a work of art, what happens to the half left behind? Semi-Detached delves into this state of being: what it means to be within and without our social and physical milieu, at once interacting and drifting away, and how it affects our ideas about aesthetics. The allure of many modern aesthetic experiences, this book argues,

"Semi-detachment--the state of simultaneous half-waking and half-dreaming--proves just the sort of big, loose idea that in the hands of a playful and curious reader like Plotz gives us fresh insight into the mind's uneven engagements with the real. This book offers a fascinating exploration of how the late realist novel reflects on that special kind of doubled (in)attention--and invites its readers to do so too."--Elizabeth Helsinger, University of Chicago

"John Plotz's exciting and wide-ranging book names, explores, and traces the genealogy of a familiar yet undertheorized feature of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century literature: an aesthetic of 'semi-detachment.' Plotz has established himself as one of the most important critics in his field, and this book will clearly be a major contribution. Its scholarship is extraordinary, its writing is elegant and effective, and its argument is new and exciting."--Elizabeth Carolyn Miller, University of California, Davis

"Semi-Detached tells the history of an aesthetic experience--semi-detachment--that is produced and described by artworks across the nineteenth century, from the romantic era to early Hollywood. This unusually confident and engrossing book, at once magisterial and experimental, sweeps across major arcs of aesthetic philosophy and literary history, but also attends to fine textual details. Plotz is a skilled, veteran scholar working at the top of his game."--Jed Esty, University of Pennsylvania

"Semi-Detached is a challenging and highly rewarding account, which illuminates a central but – until now – underexplored aspect of aesthetic experience."---Karin Koehler, Modern Language Review