Get your Radical Thinkers hats on, it's competition time!
THIS COMPETITION IS NOW OVER!!! ANSWERS ARE POSTED BELOW. WINNERS WILL BE CONTACTED IN THE NEXT FEW DAYS.
Our fiendishly difficult Radical Thinkers competition is back, marking the publication of Set 8. You have the chance to win yourself a ready-made Radical Thinkers library - that's just under 100 books, with works from esteemed writers and theorists such as Althusser, Baudrillard, Adorno and Benjamin.
First launched in 2005, the collection has proven immensely popular, as we aim to provide affordable and beautifully designed editions of important works of theory and philosophy. Their signature mix of sleek design and critical content has been celebrated in the Guardian, Bookforum and the New Statesman, amongst others. This is a rare and wonderful opportunity to get your hand on the huge treasure trove of thought.
Two winners (one from the US/Canada and one from the rest of the world), will win all available titles in the eight series published so far.
Two runners up (one from the US/Canada and one from the rest of the world) will win all of Set 8.
Third prize will be a copy of The Left Hemisphere for two people (one from the US/Canada and one from the rest of the world).
How the competition works:
There will be eight questions in total, each relating to a title from Set 8 of the series. Up to two questions will be posted on Verso's website (blog section) every day at 4PM GMT from Tuesday 21st until Friday 24th. You have until Sunday 26th at 6pm to email us with all your correct answers from the questions posted all week. We will pick the winners and runners up, at random, from a hat.
Please note that all entries MUST be emailed by Sunday 26th at 6pm GMT in order to be eligible for the competition. The winners will be announced and all the answers will be posted on Monday 27th.
The winners will win all available books currently published in the Radical Thinkers series. This does not include books that may be out of stock or out of print.
The questions are not meant to be easy – or even Googleable – so best of luck!
Please do not post the answers on Facebook, Twitter or anywhere else—entries accepted by email only. Any comments posting the answers will be deleted.
The publication of Set 8 is being marked with a series of events at the ICA.
Question 1:
According to Edward Said, Israeli generals Moshe Dayan and Ariel Sharon claim what is the privileged Israeli science par excellence?
Answer: Archaeology
Question 2:
Examining womens' changing roles within the Soviet Union, Sheila Rowbotham claims that despite increasing access to traditionally male-dominated fields of engineering, women were socially and economically inferior. According to Rowbotham, what honour did Sputnik engineer Alla Masevich receive for her contribution to astronomy?
Answer: A symbolic passport to the moon, allowing Masevich to "move freely around cosmic space"
Question 3:
Baudrillard paraphrases Voltaire by saying that who would have to be invented, if they didn't already exist?
Answer: Jean Marie Le Pe-
Question 4:
Who is thanked at the beginning of Rose's Melancholy Science for her help with German translation?
Answer: Ulrike Meinhof
Question 5:
Which theorist do both Laclau and Mouffe suggest influenced them away from an Althusserian approach to Marxism?
Answer: Antonio Gramsci
Question 6:
Who suggested Edward Said should show some appreciation and thankfulness for the modern progress caused by imperialism?
Answer: Ernest Gellner
Question 7:
Which writer of the First World War later wrote a novel where the key theme comes from Stirner's The Ego and His Own?
Answer: Ernst Jünger
Question 8:
What form of political organisation does Lukács claim is a progression from the Second International, but tactically inferior to revolutionary Marxism?
Answer: Revolutionary syndicalism and industrialism