Category Archives: People

Books received – Grant, Littleton, François, Bowd & Clayton, Nobus, Ariès, Linear B and the Prague Linguistic Circle

Some books received in recompense for review work… … and some second-hand ones – a couple by Philippe Ariès, some about the decipherment of Linear B, and about the Prague Linguistic Circle. Most of these relate in some way to … Continue reading

Posted in Jacques Lacan, Mapping Indo-European Thought in Twentieth Century France, Roman Jakobson | Leave a comment

Peter Antich, Merleau-Ponty and Contemporary Philosophy of Perception, Routledge, December 2024 and review at NDPR

Peter Antich, Merleau-Ponty and Contemporary Philosophy of Perception, Routledge, December 2024 Review at NDPR by Jack Reynolds This book draws on Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology to develop new and promising solutions to contemporary debates about perception. In providing an extension and defense of Merleau-Ponty’s … Continue reading

Posted in Maurice Merleau-Ponty | 1 Comment

John Protevi, Regimes of Violence: Towards a Political Anthropology – University of Minnesota Press, March 2025

John Protevi, Regimes of Violence: Towards a Political Anthropology – University of Minnesota Press, March 2025 A wide-ranging examination of the roots—and possible future—of violence in human societies Is aggression inevitable among humans? In Regimes of Violence, John Protevi explores how human … Continue reading

Posted in John Protevi, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

My favourite academic books of 2024

At the end of each year I’ve posted a list of academic books I liked. The criteria was that they were published in that year (or late the previous one), and that I read and liked them. Many of the … Continue reading

Posted in Claude Lévi-Strauss, Eduardo Mendieta, Fredric Jameson, Friedrich Nietzsche, Gillian Rose, Karl Marx, Michel Foucault, Mircea Eliade, Stefanos Geroulanos, Territory, Theory, Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Books received – Foucault, Greimas, Lévi-Strauss, Derrida, Vernant, Lejeune

Most of these bought on a recent Paris trip, and a couple from online second-hand stores. Spectres of Marx is a new edition, including a debate with Étienne Balibar; Du même à l’autre is the most recent seminar volume, including … Continue reading

Posted in Claude Lévi-Strauss, Emile Benveniste, Georges Dumézil, Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault | 1 Comment

C.L.R. James, interviewed by Stuart Hall, introduction by Phoebe Braithwaite – complete unaired BBC interview from 1976, in The New York Review

C.L.R. James, interviewed by Stuart Hall, introduction by Phoebe Braithwaite – complete unaired BBC interview from 1976, in The New York Review – requires subscription or free registration to read just this piece

Posted in C.L.R. James, Stuart Hall, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Foucault’s Christmas

I’ve shared this before, but was thinking again about Daniel Defert’s memories of Foucault’s working routines in this interview – ‘The Materiality of a Working Life‘ (open access; original French). No no, weekends didn’t exist! We would go to see … Continue reading

Posted in Michel Foucault, The Early Foucault | Leave a comment

Indo-European Thought in Twentieth-Century France update 25: Benveniste’s teaching, a talk at St Andrews, Tzvetan Todorov, Roman Jakobson, and some archival work in Paris and Oxford

I’m overdue an update on this project, but while I’ve been working hard, I haven’t felt there has been much to say until now. I’ve also had some further health problems, leading to another shorter stay in hospital and the … Continue reading

Posted in Alexandre Koyré, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Emile Benveniste, Georges Dumézil, Mapping Indo-European Thought in Twentieth Century France, Michel Foucault, Roman Jakobson | 3 Comments

Émile Benveniste, Problèmes de linguistique générale – Problems in General Linguistics and other English translations – list updated

I’ve updated the page Émile Benveniste, Problèmes de linguistique générale – Problems in General Linguistics and other English translations Thanks to Jordan K. Skinner, the editor of the forthcoming new edition of Problems for some new information. A translation of a … Continue reading

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Georges Dumézil, Mitra-Varuna: An Essay on Two Indo-European Representations of Sovereignty, translated by Derek Coltman, edited by Stuart Elden, afterword by Veena Das – HAU books, December 2024

Georges Dumézil, Mitra-Varuna: An Essay on Two Indo-European Representations of Sovereignty, translated by Derek Coltman, edited by Stuart Elden, afterword by Veena Das – HAU books, December 2024 The book is now available for sale, in print or e-book via … Continue reading

Posted in Georges Dumézil, Mapping Indo-European Thought in Twentieth Century France | Leave a comment