I'm struggling to decide if the close adjacency of 'all-star' and 'radical'
(not once but twice!) is wittily ironic discursive interplay or something
else entirely.
We may never know.....
Andy M
--On 14 February 2011 08:06 -0800 VersoMail Verso <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
> THE IDEA OF COMMUNISM
>
> Edited by SLAVOJ ZIZEK AND COSTAS DOUZINAS
>
> Published 7th February, 2011
> -------------------------------
>
> An all-star cast of radical intellectuals discuss the continued
> importance of communism.
>
> “Separating the promise of communism from the disasters of the twentieth
> century is no easy task. But it feels necessary. Already we know that
> choices will have to be made and sides taken. Impending ecological
> disaster suggests that this could be our last chance to do so. If another
> world is possible, it will happen in action, not abstract theory. The
> first choice is very simple: to begin” The Guardian
>
> -------------------------------
>
> ‘The long night of the left is coming to a close’ write Slavoj Zizek and
> Costas Douzinas in their introduction to The Idea of Communism. The
> continuing economic crisis which began in 2008, the shift away from a
> unipolar world defined by American hegemony, and the ecological crisis
> mean that growing numbers of people are keen to explore an alternative,
> and to re-discover the idea of communism. This volume, which emerges from
> the landmark ‘Idea of Communism’ conference in 2009, marks the
> theoretical beginning of that re-discovery.
>
> Bringing together an all-star cast of radical intellectuals, including
> Alain Badiou, Slavoj Zizek, Terry Eagleton, Michael Hardt, and Antonio
> Negri, The Idea of Communism explores the historical, philosophical, and
> political dimensions of the communist ideal, in order to clarify its
> meaning and relevance today. The volume brings together their discussions
> from the landmark conference, highlighting both the idea of communism’s
> continuing significance and the need to reconfigure the concept within a
> world marked by havoc and crisis.
>
> The contributors argue that multiple crises of the modern world lay bare
> the limits of mainstream liberal capitalist ideology. Blending astute
> analysis with compelling theoretical sophistication, The Idea of
> Communism complements the themes and arguments in other works in Verso’
> ‘Pocket Communism’ series, including Badiou’s The Communist Hypothesis,
> Boris Groys’ The Communist Postscript, and Bruno Bosteel’s forthcoming
> The Actuality of Communism.
>
> The collection opens with an exhilarating call to arms by France’s
> greatest living intellectual, the ‘last man standing’ of ’68. The iconic
> Badiou examines the link between the communist idea and political
> practice, highlighting what he calls “the anonymous action of millions of
> militants, rebels, fighters” who, although “unrepresentable as such”,
> have throughout history represented, “elements of the Idea of Communism
> at various stages”.
>
> Capturing the sense of intellectual confidence and excitement in renewing
> the communist ideal, Slavoj ?i?ek concludes the collection with a
> characteristically wide-ranging contribution taking in Lenin, Bill Gates
> and Samuel Beckett. He addresses the question, ‘how to begin from the
> beginning?’ and posits an answer by way of identifying new revolutionary
> subjects which correspond to today’s ‘post-industrial’ capitalism.
>
> -------------------------------
>
> Praise for SLAVOJ ZIZEK:
>
> “Zizek leaves no social or cultural phenomenon untheorized, and is master
> of the counterintuitive observation.” New Yorker
>
> “A great provocateur... Zizek writes with passion and an aphoristic
> energy that is spellbinding.” Los Angeles Times
>
> “The most dangerous philosopher in the West.” New Republic
>
> ------------------------------
>
> SLAVOJ ZIZEK is today's most controversial public intellectual. His work
> traverses the fields of philosophy, psychoanalysis, theology, history and
> political theory, taking in film, popular culture, and literature to
> provide acute analyses of the complexities of contemporary ideology as
> well as a serious and sophisticated philosophy. The author of over 30
> books, SLAVOJ ZIZEK’S provocative prose has challenged a generation of
> activists and intellectuals. His latest book is LIVING IN THE END TIMES.
> He is a professor at the European Graduate School, International Director
> of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities, Birkbeck College,
> University of London, and a senior researcher at the Institute of
> Sociology, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia.
>
> COSTAS DOUZINAS is a Professor of Law and Director of the Birkbeck
> Institute for the Humanities, University of London. He is the author of
> numerous works, including HUMAN RIGHTS AND EMPIRE, THE END OF HUMAN
> RIGHTS, and LAW AND THE IMAGE: THE AUTHORITY OF ART AND THE AESTHETICS OF
> LAW.
>
> --------------------------------
>
> ISBN -13: 978 1 84467 459 6 / $26.95 / £14.99 / $33.50 / Paperback / 224
> pages
>
> ISBN -13: 978 1 84467 455 8 / $95.00 / £55.00 / $118.50 / Hardback / 224
> pages
>
> -------------------------------
>
> For more information or to buy the book visit:
> http://www.versobooks.com/books/513-the-idea-of-communism
>
> --------------------------------
>
> Academics based outside North America may request an inspection copy ?
> please contact [log in to unmask]
>
> Academics based within North America may request an examination copy ?
> please contact [log in to unmask]
>
> -----------------------------------
>
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Andy Medhurst
Media and Cultural Studies
University of Sussex
01273-877787
Andy Medhurst
Senior Lecturer in Media, Film & Cultural Studies
University of Sussex
01273-877787
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