The Years of Theory

The Years of Theory:Postwar French Thought to the Present

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Magisterial lectures on the major figures of French theory from 'America’s leading Marxist critic'

Fredric Jameson introduces here the major themes of French theory: existentialism, structuralism, poststructuralism, semiotics, feminism, psychoanalysis, and Marxism. In a series of accessible lectures, Jameson places this effervescent period of thought in the context of its most significant political conjunctures, including the Liberation of Paris, the Algerian War, the uprisings of May ’68, and the creation of the EU.

The philosophical debates of the period come to life through anecdotes and extended readings of work by the likes of Sartre, Beauvoir, Fanon, Barthes, Foucault, Althusser, Derrida, Deleuze, groups like Tel Quel and Cahiers du Cinéma, and contemporary thinkers such as Rancière and Badiou. Eclectic, insightful, and inspired, Jameson’s seminars provide an essential account of an intellectual moment comparable in significance to the Golden Age of Athens, historically fascinating and of persistent relevance.

Reviews

  • An intellectually rigorous overview of post–World War II French thought ... Tracing webs of influence, and rebellion, among them, Jameson conveys the intellectual vitality of a vastly changing world.

    Kirkus Reviews
  • Jameson is one of the world’s most eminent cultural theorists, but he is also a peerless literary critic in the classical sense of the term.

    Terry Eagleton
  • Probably the most important cultural critic writing in English today. It can be truly said that nothing cultural is alien to him.

    Colin McCabe