The Last Resistance
In The Last Resistance, Jacqueline Rose explores the power of writing to create and transform our political lives. In particular, she examines the role of literature in the Zionist imagination: here, literature is presented as a unique form of dissidence, with the power to expose the unconscious of nations, and often proposing radical alternatives to their dominant pathways and beliefs.
While Israel-Palestine is the repeated focus, The Last Resistance also turns to post-apartheid South Africa, to American national fantasy post-9/11, and to key moments for the understanding of Jewish culture and memory. Rose also underscores the importance of psychoanalysis, both historically in relation to the unfolding of world events, and as a tool of political understanding.
Examining topics ranging from David Grossman, through W.G. Sebald, Freud, Nadine Gordimer, the concept of evil, and suicide bombers, The Last Resistance offers a unique way of responding to the crises of the times.
Hardback, 237 pages
ISBN: 9781844671243
May 2007
$29.95 / £16.99
Reviews
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Jacqueline Rose has written what can only be called a masterpiece of scholarship and thought. The Last Resistance, exploring the role of literature in the Zionist imagination and Jewish memory, is a work of stunning insight and moral courage. Destined to become a standard in the field, it will have a profound and lasting impact.
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In The Last Resistance, Jacqueline Rose uses her knowledge of literature, psychoanalysis, and politics to brilliantly illuminating effect. The volume will greatly enhance Professor Rose's reputation as a literary critic and public intellectual. Stimulating and thought-provoking, it deserves to be read widely.
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The miracle of Jacqueline Rose is that she combines textual criticism with concrete political struggles in a brilliant way. In this book, a breathtakingly refined textual analysis sustains a passionate, ethical and political engagement in the ongoing Near East crisis. This alone makes her a model of what a public intellectual should be.
Blog
A Survey of Verso's Responses to 9/11
Sparing no room for nuance, the magazine covers are all reminding us that the United States—and hence the planet—is set to commemorate the ten-year anniversary of 9/11, a day that not only changed the world and signaled the end of innocence and spawned a new greatest generation, but also launched a thousand new slogans with which to label that day, and inspired thousands of speeches intent on inspiring thousands more.
However, despite the horror, anger, uncertainty—and yes, for some, glee—from the damage inflicted on that momentous day, there remained, in the aftermath and up to now, a limited vocabulary within the mainstream with which to describe the events of that time and the trail of destruction that followed.
And since we aren’t anticipating a commemorative circuitous flight over the country on Air Force One with the President of the United States, we would like to offer an alternate journey—that is, a survey of Verso’s responses to 9/11:
Discussions
Begin a discussionOther books by Jacqueline Rose
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A Time to Speak Out
Edited by Anne Karpf, Brian Klug, et al.
Jewish voices challenge the terms of the Israel/Palestine debate.
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Sexuality in the Field of Vision
Feminism, psychoanalysis, semiotics and film theory.