Category Archives: Georges Dumézil

Indo-European thought in twentieth-century France update 10: Dumézil’s early work and archives; the Collège de Sociologie and Blanchot; Eliade in Paris; Lévi-Strauss

Since the last update on this project, the main task has been beginning to work through Dumézil’s books and articles in broadly chronological order, filling in some gaps in my earlier reading, and trying to write a bit about each. So far, I’ve … Continue reading

Posted in Claude Lévi-Strauss, Emile Benveniste, Georges Bataille, Georges Dumézil, Julia Kristeva, Maurice Blanchot, Michel Foucault, Mircea Eliade, The Archaeology of Foucault | 3 Comments

Indo-European thought project update 9: Dumézil’s courses; Benveniste’s teaching records; Barthes, Lacan, Deleuze and Guattari, Derrida; and a forthcoming article on “Foucault and Dumézil on Antiquity”

Over the last month I have made some progress on a few different aspects of this project.  The main task in Paris was continuing working through the boxes of Georges Dumézil’s courses, held at the Collège de France archives. I’ve now … Continue reading

Posted in Emile Benveniste, Felix Guattari, Georges Dumézil, Gilles Deleuze, Jacques Derrida, Jacques Lacan, Michel Foucault, Roland Barthes, The Archaeology of Foucault | 2 Comments

William Walters and Martina Tazzioli (eds.), Handbook on Governmentality – Edward Elgar, April 2023

William Walters and Martina Tazzioli (eds.), Handbook on Governmentality – Edward Elgar, April 2023 My piece in here is entitled “The Yoke of Law and the Lustre of Glory: Foucault and Dumézil on Sovereignty”. It’s the first in a series … Continue reading

Posted in Georges Dumézil, Michel Foucault | Leave a comment

Indo-European thought project update 8: working on Barthes, Lévi-Strauss and the Mission Paul Pelliot

Since the last update on this project I’ve not done quite what I intended. I had thought I’d begin working systematically through Georges Dumézil’s works in a chronological way, filling in much detail and some gaps in my previous reading. Instead I went down … Continue reading

Posted in Aurel Stein, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Clémence Ramnoux, Emile Benveniste, Georges Dumézil, Mapping Indo-European Thought in Twentieth Century France, Michel Foucault, Roland Barthes, Roman Jakobson, The Archaeology of Foucault, The Early Foucault | 1 Comment

Stuart Elden, ‘Editing Georges Dumézil’s Mitra-Varuna’, Berfrois, December 2022

Update September 2025: the Berfrois site is now closed and the archive has been removed. My piece can now be found here. I have a short piece at Berfrois, ‘Editing Georges Dumézil’s Mitra-Varuna‘. Sadly Berfrois is closing, so I want … Continue reading

Posted in Ernst Kantorowicz, Georges Dumézil, Immanuel Kant, Mapping Indo-European Thought in Twentieth Century France, Michel Foucault, William Shakespeare | Leave a comment

Books received – Dumézil, Bejan, Leucate, Basso, Koerner, Malpas

A copy of Georges Dumézil, Heur et Malheur du guerrier; Cristina Bejan, Intellectuals and Fascism in Interwar Romania: The Criterion Association; Aristide Leucate’s recent short study of Dumézil; Elisabetta Basso, Young Foucault: The Lille Manuscripts on Psychopathology, Phenomenology, and Anthropology, 1952–1955; E.F.K. … Continue reading

Posted in Ferdinand de Saussure, Georges Dumézil, Jeff Malpas, Mapping Indo-European Thought in Twentieth Century France, Martin Heidegger, Michel Foucault, Mircea Eliade | Leave a comment

Indo-European thought project update 7: Working on Dumézil’s teaching, a few research resources, and some archival work in Paris

I’ve made some progress with the Indo-European project over the past few weeks. Not as much as I’d hoped, and it feels a bit unsystematic at this point, but early work is often like that. This has included a couple … Continue reading

Posted in Claude Lévi-Strauss, Emile Benveniste, Georges Dumézil, Mapping Indo-European Thought in Twentieth Century France, Michel Foucault, The Archaeology of Foucault | 1 Comment

Parts of Georges Bataille’s library for sale (and a fascinating downloadable catalogue and inventaire)

Parts of Georges Bataille’s library are for sale – story here. As you’d expect, things are rather expensive… A catalogue is available to buy – La bibliothèque de Georges Bataille – and to download as pdf here. petit in-4, broché, … Continue reading

Posted in Albert Camus, Friedrich Nietzsche, Georges Bataille, Georges Dumézil, Henri Lefebvre, Jacques Lacan, Jean-Paul Sartre, Michel Foucault, Mircea Eliade, Pierre Klossowski | 3 Comments

Georges Dumézil’s Mythe et épopée series and its partial English translations

Towards the end of his career, Georges Dumézil began to produce some works summarising the results of his decades of research. The most important was the Mythe et épopée series published by Gallimard in three volumes in 1968, 1971 and 1973.  Each … Continue reading

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Georges Dumézil’s The Destiny of the Warrior – a work in progress

Mitra-Varuna is the best place to go, in English, for Dumézil’s views on the first function of sovereignty, and its twofold nature: the first judicial and worldly, the second divine and supernatural. In French, Les Dieux souverains des Indo-Européens (Gallimard 1977) updates and … Continue reading

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