Theory/postmodernism/post-structuralism often gets written off because of its supposed lack of ethical substance. This assumption has been wearing thin for many years now, and this book contributes considerably to a positive discussion of ethics beyond utilitarian, liberal, and even some communitarian models.
Having said that, this book is not a book of normative ethics, of ways of determining right and wrong, but is rather a book about the ethical realm that is constituted by the encounter of one and the other. Drawing upon Levinas' metaphysics of alterity to overcome limitations in Foucault's (later) model of transformative subjectivity, but going beyond this with Barthes, Lyotard and (Alphonso) Lingis, this work covers a lot of theoretical ground. What makes Sullivan's text successful ultimately however is not the amount of material that she draws on, but the clear way in which her own path through the issues raised is clearly articulated. This at times makes the text seem overly academic, but this is to say that the text is solidly referenced and delineated with introductions, synopses, and reviews that enable reading rather than hindering it.
To speak of the content of the book in a short review would no doubt do it an injustice, but the subtitle of the book gives such general categories that one can't easily see where this book might be relevant. Already I have spoken of ethics, rather of the ethical that the book discusses. As in Levinas' work, any discussion of the ethical necessarily raises questions of subjectivity (the self's construction and maintenance in the world) and of course, vice versa. Textuality is another focus of Sullivan's work: here what is meant is the discursive nature of subjectivity. Levinas provides the basic structure of Sullivan's approach, but his work lacks a means of articulating the metaphysical in the ontological; what is needed is a way of conceiving the affect of alterity on subjectivity in terms of language and discourse. Roland Barthes' work from 1968 onwards provides for this, and for the essential element of pleasure which for Sullivan is an inalienable part of bodily-being-in-the-world, subjectivity. This is not to say that subjectivity is necessarily all erotics, but Barthes' discussion (rather performance) of plaisir and jouissance brings into play the notion of affective experience; this is the condition for the (im)possibilitity of cognitive, knowing experience.
Lyotard and Lingis are present in the text since their work pushes further Barthes' notions of textuality into the corporeal; texts now become bodily, and bodies are texts. Lyotard's work Libidinal Economies, and Lingis' various commentaries and performative works on Levinas are the material here that affect and inform Sullivan's discussion. The tattooed body, the 'subject in/of tattooing' is the locus of Sullivan's discussion; he/she/it provides a place where the at times abstract discussions of the above themes reverberate and are made (however provisionally) concrete. Not only does Sullivan engage with 'serious' texts such as psychological studies of tattooed persons, she also utilises 'fictional' works and dramatizations of tattooed and marked bodies that make this book more relevant and affecting than it might otherwise have been.
This is all rather brief and jargonistic (and quite possibly wrong, but it's a start). More simply, Sullivan's book is relevant to all interested in postmodernism (where this is seen as separate from other disciplines), psychology, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, and perhaps literary theory. Sullivan herself is a lecturer in Critical and Cultural Studies, but this means nothing to many people, or perhaps means too much. Suffice it to say that Sullivan's work is interdisciplinary in the best sense of the word, and should be read as such.
