Monthly Archives: March 2024

Mathieu Dejean, Henri Lefebvre: Dogmatism in Reverse – trans. David Fernbach, Verso blog 

Mathieu Dejean, Henri Lefebvre: Dogmatism in Reverse – trans. David Fernbach, Verso blog (open access) In 1958, during the insurrectionary events that preceded General de Gaulle’s return to power, 57-year-old Henri Lefebvre faced two ‘comrades’ from the French Communist Party in … Continue reading

Posted in Henri Lefebvre, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Aaron Clift, Anticommunism in French Society and Politics, 1945-1953 – Oxford University Press, 2023; and New Books interview

Aaron Clift, Anticommunism in French Society and Politics, 1945-1953 – Oxford University Press, 2023 Anticommunism in French Society and Politics, 1945-1953 evaluates the prevalence of anticommunism among the French population in 1945 to 1953, and examines its causes, character, and consequences … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Peter E. Gordon, A Precarious Happiness: Adorno and the Sources of Normativity – University of Chicago Press, January 2024 (and podcast interview)

Peter E. Gordon, A Precarious Happiness: Adorno and the Sources of Normativity – University of Chicago Press, January 2024 A strikingly original account of Theodor Adorno’s work as a critique animated by happiness. “Gordon’s confidently gripping and persistently subtle interpretation … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

“Translating China in the Changing Political Economy, 1920s-2020s”, Recordings of British Academy Symposium, March 25, 2024 – Julia Ng and others

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Emily Herring, Herald of a Restless World: How Henri Bergson Brought Philosophy to the People – Basic Books, October 2024

Emily Herring, Herald of a Restless World: How Henri Bergson Brought Philosophy to the People – Hachette, October 2024 The first English-language biography of Henri Bergson, the French philosopher who defined individual creativity and transformed twentieth-century thought   At the dawn … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Swati Srivastava, Hybrid Sovereignty in World Politics – Cambridge University Press, March 2024

Swati Srivastava, Hybrid Sovereignty in World Politics – Cambridge University Press, March 2024 The idea of ‘hybrid sovereignty’ describes overlapping relations between public and private actors in important areas of global power, such as contractors fighting international wars, corporations regulating … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

David Beer, Why do writers write?

David Beer, Why do writers write? (via his Half Thoughts blog) For some reason, I’ve written a little piece about George Orwell’s four motives for writing. The reason why writers write is mostly mysterious, even to the writers themselves. When occasionally … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Books received – Martin, Specter, Trubetzkoy, Hoffman, Strauss (and Kojève), Lincoln

A collection of essays on Emile Benveniste; Matthew Specter, Habermas: An Intellectual Biography; Nicolai Trubetzkoy, The Legacy of Genghis Khan and Other Essays on Russia’s Identity; Marcelo Hoffman’s Foucault in Brazil: Dictatorship, Resistance, and Solidarity; Leo Strauss, On Tyranny, which … Continue reading

Posted in Alexandre Kojève, Emile Benveniste, Jürgen Habermas, Mapping Indo-European Thought in Twentieth Century France, Michel Foucault, Mircea Eliade | 1 Comment

Valentina Antoniol, Foucault critico di Schmitt. Genealogie e guerra – Rubbetino, March 2024

I’ve mentioned the French version before – Valentina Antoniol, Foucault et la guerre: À partir de Schmitt, contre Schmitt, Éditions Mimesis, November 2023 – but the Italian is now published, and I understand it is longer than the French: Valentina Antoniol, Foucault critico di Schmitt. Genealogie … Continue reading

Posted in Carl Schmitt, Michel Foucault, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Marcelo Hoffman, Foucault in Brazil: Dictatorship, Resistance, and Solidarity – University of Pittsburgh Press, February 2024

Marcelo Hoffman, Foucault in Brazil: Dictatorship, Resistance, and Solidarity – University of Pittsburgh Press, February 2024 Now published Philosopher Michel Foucault’s cultural criticism crosses disciplines and is well known as an influence on modern conceptions of knowledge and power. Less … Continue reading

Posted in Michel Foucault | Leave a comment