Diese Reihe bietet eine aufschlussreiche Einführung in das Denken der einflussreichsten Intellektuellen der Gegenwart. Jeder Band befasst sich mit dem Leben und Werk eines wichtigen Denkers und beleuchtet den Kontext seiner Schlüsselideen. Die Bücher untersuchen detailliert die Einflüsse, die das Denken des Theoretikers prägten, und die nachfolgenden Auswirkungen seiner Arbeit. Sie sind eine unschätzbare Ressource für Studenten, die ein tieferes Verständnis kritischer Theorien und ihrer Urheber suchen.
Adorno's writing is notoriously difficult. This Routledge Critical Thinkers guide gives the reader the tools required to interpret Adorno's major works, whilst also introducing his interpretation of classical German philosophy and his relationship to his most significant contemporaries.
Roland Barthes is a central figure in the study of language, literature, culture and the media. This title prepares readers for their first encounter with his crucial writings on some of the most important theoretical debates. Tracing his engagement with other key thinkers, it offers a clear picture of Barthes' work in-context. schovat popis
Paul Gilroy has been a controversial force at the forefront of debates around race, nation, and diaspora. Working across a broad range of disciplines, Gilroy has argued that racial identities are historically constructed, formed by colonization, slavery, nationalist philosophies, and consumer capitalism.Paul Williams introduces Gilroy s key themes and ideas, including:the essential concepts, including ethnic absolutism, civilizationism, postcolonial melancholia, iconization, and the black Atlantic analysis of Gilroy s broad-ranging cultural references, from Edmund Burke to hip-hopa comprehensive overview of Gilroy s influences and the academic debates his work has inspired.Emphasizing the timeliness and global relevance of Gilroy s ideas, this guide will appeal to anyone approaching Gilroy s work for the first time or seeking to further their understanding of race and contemporary culture.
Covers key elements of Gramsci's thought through detailed discussion, and studies the historical context of the theorist's thought. This work also offers examples of putting Gramsci's ideas into practice in the analysis of contemporary culture, and evaluates responses to his work.
Looking at the context and the impact of Edward Said's scholarship and journalism, this book examines Said's key ideas, including the significance of 'worldliness', 'amateurism', 'secular criticism', 'affiliation' and 'contrapuntal reading'; the place of text and critic in 'the world'; and, knowledge, power and the construction of the 'Other'.
Homi K. Bhabha is one of the most highly renowned figures in contemporary post-colonial studies. This introductory guidebook is ideal for all students working in the fields of literary, cultural and postcolonial theory.
Why think? Not, according to Gilles Deleuze, in order to be clever, but because thinking transforms life. Why read literature? Not for pure entertainment, Deleuze tells us, but because literature can recreate the boundaries of life. With his emphasis on creation, the future and the enhancement of life, along with his crusade against 'common sense', Deleuze offers some of the most liberating, exhilarating ideas in twentieth-century thought. This book offers a way in to Deleuzean thought through such topics as: * 'becoming' * time and the flow of life * the ethics of thinking * 'major' and 'minor' literature * difference and repetition * desire, the image and ideology. Written with literature students in mind, this is the ideal guide for students wishing to think differently about life and literature and in this way to create their own new readings of literary texts.
Best known for his theories of ethics and responsibility, Emmanuel Levinas was one of the most profound and influential thinkers of the last century. In this clear, accessible guide, Se�n Hand examines why Levinas is increasingly fundamental to the study of literature and culture today. Exploring the intellectual and social contexts of his work and the events that shaped it, Hand considers:the influence of phenomenology and Judaism on Levinas's thoughtkey concepts such as the 'face', the 'other', ethical consciousness and responsibilityLevinas's work on aestheticsthe relationship of philosophy and religion in his writingsthe interaction of his work with historical discussionshis often complex relationships with other theorists and theoriesEmmanuel Levinas's unique contribution to theory set an exemplary standard for all subsequent thought. This outstanding guide to his work will prove invaluable to scholars and students across a wide range of disciplines - from philosophy and literary criticism through to international relations and the creative arts.
With a special focus on Derrida's relevance for literary and cultural studies, this text offers invaluable advice on reading Derrida's texts and guidance on the vast range of criticism responses to his work. schovat popis
Emphasising the significance of F.R. Leavis to the work of all contemporary theorists and to literature in general, this study is an invaluable guide to one of the core figures in literary and critical theory.
Focusing on Julia Kristeva's influential theories, this book delves into her explorations of language, textuality, and the complexities of subjectivity. It addresses her perspectives on feminism and sexuality, as well as her insights into politics, identity, and nationality. Through a comprehensive analysis, readers gain a deeper understanding of Kristeva's contributions to contemporary thought and her impact on various fields of study.
Widely recognised as one of today's most important cultural critics, Adam Roberts offers an engaging introduction to this crucial figure, which will convince any student of contemporary theory that Jameson must be read. schovat popis
Focusing on key themes in Lyotard's philosophy, this essential student guide explores modernity and postmodernity, the concept of the sublime, and ethical considerations. It delves into historical representation, the role of art and the unpresentable, and the relationship between knowledge and the university. Additionally, it addresses the implications of Lyotard's ideas for the future, making it a comprehensive resource for understanding his influential work.
Jean Baudrillard is one of the controversial theorists, famous for his claim that the Gulf War never happened and for his provocative writing on terrorism, specifically 9/11. This title examines the impact that Baudrillard has had on literary studies, media and cultural studies, sociology, philosophy and postmodernism.
Lee Spinks prepares readers for their first encounter with Nietzsche's most influential texts, enabling them to begin to apply his thought in studies of literature, art and contemporary culture.
Giorgio Agamben is one of the most important and controversial figures in contemporary continental philosophy and critical theory. This book explains Agamben's key ideas, including: an overview of his work; analysis of Agamben's philosophy of language and life; and, theories of ethics and 'witnessing'.
Tracing the developing modernist aesthetic in the thought and writings of James Joyce, Dorothy Richardson and Virginia Woolf, this book considers the cultural, social and personal influences upon the three writers. It explores the connections between their theories, and gives attention to their work on various aspects.
Focusing on Zizek's key ideas, the book explores his influences, particularly Lacanian psychoanalysis. Tony Myers presents these concepts in an accessible manner, incorporating examples from popular culture and everyday experiences to illustrate Zizek's theories. This engaging guide serves as an entry point for readers looking to understand the complexities of Zizek's thought.
Mikhail Bakhtin was one of the twentieth century’s most influential literary theorists. This accessible introduction to his thought begins with the questions ‘Why Bakhtin?’ and ‘Who was Bakhtin?’, before dealing in detail with his ideas on authorship and subjecthood, language, dialogism, heteroglossia and the novel, the chronotope, and the carnivalesque. True to their dialogic spirit, these ideas are presented not as a fixed body of knowledge, but rather as living and evolving entities, as ways of approaching not only the most persistent questions of language and literature, but also issues that are relevant across the full range of Humanities disciplines. Bakhtin emerges in the process as a key thinker for the Humanities in the twenty-first century.
Exploring the work of T.S. Eliot, T.E. Hulme and Ezra Pound - this book offers invaluable insight into the modernist movement and demonstrates the impact of these influential theorists on the shape and value of English Literature.
Stuart Hall was one of the founding fathers of cultural studies. This text places Hall's work within its historical, cultural and theoretical contexts, providing a clear guide to his key ideas and influences, as well as his critics and his intellectual legacy.
As the founding figure of the movement known as 'existentialism', Jean-Paul Sartre was a key figure in twentieth-century literature and philosophy, whose writings changed the course of critical thought. This book sets Sartre's thought in context, and considers a number of key ideas, charting their impact and continuing influence.
Questioning not just literary but social, political and cultural assumptions about knowledge and power, Greenblatt's work has had a huge impact on contemporary theory. This work discusses ideas specific to particular works and explores the relation of Greenblatt's thought to new historicism as well as other modes of criticism.
Karl Simms also offers a guide to further reading, which offers advice on Ricoeur's work as well as secondary texts. Refreshingly clear and impressively comprehensive, Paul Ricoeur is the essential guide to an essential theorist.
Focusing on the work of Laura Mulvey, Kaja Silverman, Teresa de Lauretis and Barbara Creed, this book explores how, since it began in the 1970s, feminist film theory has revolutionized the way that films and their spectators can be understood. It is useful for students of film theory and women's studies.
Sara Mills offers an introduction to both the ideas of Michel Foucault and the debate surrounding him, fully equipping student readers for an encounter with this most influential of thinkers.
Best known for his theories of ideology and its impact on politics and culture, Louis Althusser revolutionized Marxist theory. Placing Althusser's ideas in the context of earlier Marxist thought, as well as tracing their development and impact, this book presents a guide, useful for those new to the work of this influential critical thinker.
This book serves as an introduction to the views of the anticolonial thinker Frantz Fanon and charts his influence on postcolonial studies, literary critism, and cultural studies.
This guide offers students of literature and culture a refreshingly clear introduction to Butler's crucial ideas, including the formation of identity, subjecthood and gender performativity.
Jacques Lacan is one of the most challenging and controversial of contemporary thinkers, as well as the most influential psychoanalyst since Freud. Lacanian theory has reached far beyond the consulting room to engage with such diverse disciplines as literature, film, gender and social theory. This book covers the full extent of Lacan's career and provides an accessible guide to Lacanian concepts and his writing the imaginary and the symbolic; the Oedipus Complex and the meaning of the phallus; the subject and the unconscious; the real; sexual difference.Locating Lacan's work in the context of contemporary French thought and the history of psychoanalysis, Sean Homer's Jacques Lacan is the ideal introduction to this influential theorist.
The work of Sigmund Freud has penetrated almost every area of literary theory and cultural studies, as well as contemporary culture. Pamela Thurschwell explains and contextualises psychoanalytic theory and its meaning for modern thinking. This updated second edition explores developments and responses to Freud's work, including: tracing contexts and developments of Freud's work over the course of his career exploring paradoxes and contradictions in his writing focusing on psychoanalysis as an interpretative strategy, paying special attention to its impact on literary and cultural theory examining the recent backlash against Freud and arguing for the continued relevance of psychoanalysis. Encouraging and preparing readers to approach Freud's original texts, this guide ensures that readers of all levels will find Freud accessible, challenging and of continued relevance.
An accessible introduction to one of the key thinkers of our time, focusing on her key theoretical concepts, intellectual context and critical reception.
This guidebook provides an ideal entry-point for readers new to Heidegger, transforming it from a daunting task into an exciting and necessary challenge.
Paul Virilio is a challenging and original thinker whose work on technology, state power and war is increasingly relevant today. Exploring Virilio's main texts from their political and historical contexts, and case studies from contemporary culture and media in order to explain his philosophical concepts, Ian James introduces the key themes in Virlio's work, including: speed virtualization war politics art. As technological and scientific innovations continue to set the agenda for the present and future development of culture, communications, international economy, military intervention and diverse forms of political organization, Virilio's unique theoretical and critical insights are of enormous value and importance for anyone wishing to understand the nature of modern culture and society.
