Monthly Archives: January 2026

Roland Barthes and the Question of Territory – Animals, Spaces and Sound

Roland Barthes only taught at the Collège de France for a short period, from the 1976-77 academic year until shortly before his premature death in early 1980. I was drawn to his lecture courses there for my current work because he sometimes … Continue reading

Posted in André Leroi-Gourhan, Boundaries, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Emile Benveniste, Felix Guattari, Gilles Deleuze, Jacques Lacan, Mapping Indo-European Thought in Twentieth Century France, Music, Noam Chomsky, Roland Barthes, Roman Jakobson, Sunday Histories, Territory, Theory | 2 Comments

Isabel Feichtner, Susanne Heeg, Anne Klingenmeier, Gesine Langlotz and Katja Schubel  eds., Stadt – Land – Boden: Verbindende Bodenpolitik zwischen Stadt und Land – transcript, August 2025, open access

Isabel Feichtner, Susanne Heeg, Anne Klingenmeier, Gesine Langlotz and Katja Schubel  eds., Stadt – Land – Boden: Verbindende Bodenpolitik zwischen Stadt und Land – transcript, August 2025, open access Bodenpolitische Fragen sind zukunftsweisend, denn sie entscheiden über Erhalt oder Zerstörung unserer … Continue reading

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Chris O’Kane, Social Constitution and Fetishistic Social Domination in Marx, Lukács, Adorno, and Lefebvre – Brill, March 2026

Chris O’Kane, Social Constitution and Fetishistic Social Domination in Marx, Lukács, Adorno, and Lefebvre – Brill, March 2026 The Marxian theory of fetishism is usually interpreted as a theory of false consciousness, alienation, or reification pertaining to commodities or culture. … Continue reading

Posted in Georg Lukács, Henri Lefebvre, Karl Marx, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Christophe Bouton, Sur les traces du temps – Minuit, 2026

Christophe Bouton, Sur les traces du temps – Minuit, 2026 thanks to John Raimo for the link Qu’est-ce que le temps ? Constitue-t-il une réalité autonome ou une simple relation entre les êtres ? Un élément irréductible du monde ou … Continue reading

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Duncan Kelly, Worlds of Wartime: The First World War and the Reconstruction of Modern Politics – Oxford University Press, November 2025

Duncan Kelly, Worlds of Wartime: The First World War and the Reconstruction of Modern Politics – Oxford University Press, November 2025 I’ve shared news of this major study, of a massive topic – 784 pages! – before. There is now a … Continue reading

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Anne O. Law, Migration and the Origins of American Citizenship: African Americans, Native Americans, and Immigrants – Oxford University Press, March 2026

Anne O. Law, Migration and the Origins of American Citizenship: African Americans, Native Americans, and Immigrants – Oxford University Press, March 2026 Since the late nineteenth century, the US federal government has enjoyed exclusive authority to decide whether someone has the … Continue reading

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Gautham Rao, White Power: Policing American Slavery – University of North Carolina Press, May 2026

Gautham Rao, White Power: Policing American Slavery – University of North Carolina Press, May 2026 Beginning in the colonial era and growing through the American Revolution and the Southern plantation system, slaveholders’ violent police regime continued after Emancipation, through Reconstruction, … Continue reading

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Books received – Kristeva, Ryback, Sergent, Ruwet, Deleuze, Serres, Burrin

Mostly bought second-hand, but including Michel Serres, Hermes III, sent by University of Minnesota Press, and Gilles Deleuze, Sur les lignes de vie. The one without a clear title on the spine is Jean-Claude Ruwet, Introduction to Ethology: The Biology … Continue reading

Posted in Gilles Deleuze, Julia Kristeva, Mapping Indo-European Thought in Twentieth Century France, Michel Serres | Leave a comment

Alex Sharpe, We’re Nobody’s Children: David Bowie and Existentialism – Counterpress, February 2026

Alex Sharpe, We’re Nobody’s Children: David Bowie and Existentialism – Counterpress, February 2026 This book brings existentialist philosophy (atheistic and Christian) to life through the artistic life of David Bowie. Working with Søren Kierkegaard, Friedrich Nietzsche, Martin Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre, … Continue reading

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Mircea Eliade on alchemy; Marie-Madeleine Davy on mysticism and symbolism

Among many other topics, the Romanian historian of religion Mircea Eliade wrote about alchemy. His 1937 book Cosmologie Şi Alchimie Babiloniană was translated into French as Cosmologie et alchimie babyloniennes, but only in 1991. A substantial part of this text appeared in English … Continue reading

Posted in Marie-Madeleine Davy, Mircea Eliade, Simone Weil, Sunday Histories | 2 Comments