Intimate Revolt - (European Perspectives: A Social Thought and Cultural Criticism) by Julia Kristeva (Paperback)

About the Book

A thorough examination of the manner in which three of the most unsettling modern writers--Aragon, Sartre, and Barthes--affirm their personal rebellion followed by Kristeva's own ideas on the future of rebellion.

Book Synopsis

Julia Kristeva, herself a product of the famous May 1968 Paris student uprising, has long been fascinated by the concepts of rebellion and revolution. But is it still possible to build and nurture a culture of revolt in today's world? In this book, Kristeva examines the manner in which three of the most unsettling modern writers--Louis Aragon, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Roland Barthes--affirmed their personal rebellions. She then ponders the future of rebellion, maintaining not only that political revolt is mired in compromise but also that an essential component of European culture--a culture of doubt and criticism--is losing its moral and aesthetic force.

Review Quotes

[An] important, interdisciplinary tour de force.-- "Library Journal"

Kristeva's work is an intricate mix of cultural criticism and psychoanalysis. . . . [Her] comments on patriotism, nationalism, hospitality, and cosmopolitanism are politically astute and ethically humanist.-- "Philosophy in Review"

The reader will encounter in these pages the literary music of allusive, profound passages that uniquely characterize the expression of Kristeva's thoughts.-- "Choice"

About the Author

Julia Kristeva is professor emerita of linguistics at the Université de Paris VII. A renowned psychoanalyst, philosopher, and linguist, she has written dozens of books spanning semiotics, political theory, literary criticism, gender and sex, and cultural critique, as well as several novels and autobiographical works, published in English translation by Columbia University Press. Kristeva was the inaugural recipient of the Holberg International Memorial Prize in 2004 "for innovative explorations of questions on the intersection of language, culture, and literature."