Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection

by Julia Kristeva, Leon Roudiez (Translator)

Overview

Powers of Horror is an excellent introduction to an aspect of contemporary French literature which has been allowed to become somewhat neglected in the current emphasis on para-philosophical modes of discourse."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780231053471
Publisher:	Columbia University Press
Publication date:	06/04/1984
Series:	European Perspectives: A Series in Social Thought and Cultural Criticism
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	219
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 8.90(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

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.”

Table of Contents

I. Approaching Abjection
2. Something to Be Scared Of
3. From Filth to Defilement
4. Semiotics of Biblical Abomination
5.... Qui Tollis Peccata Mundi
6. Céline: Neither Actor nor Martyr
7. Suffering and Horror
8. Those Females Who Can Wreck the Infinite
9. "Ours to Jew or Die"
10. In the Beginning and Without End...
11. Powers of Horror

What People are Saying About This

Paul de Man

Kristeva is one of the leading voices in contemporary French criticism, on a par with such names as Genette, Foucault, Greimas and others...[Powers of Horror is] an excellent introduction to an aspect of contemporary French literature which has been allowed to become somewhat neglected in the current emphasis on para-philosophical modes of discourse. The sections on Céline, for example, are indispensable reading for those interested in this writer and place him within a context that is both illuminating and of general interest.

Editorial Reviews

Kristeva is one of the leading voices in contemporary French criticism, on a par with such names as Genette, Foucault, Greimas and others. . . . [Powers of Horror] is an excellent introduction to an aspect of contemporary French literature which has been allowed to become somewhat neglected in the current emphasis on paraphilosophical modes of discourse.

Paul de Man

Critics who seek an alternative to sexist and, in general, imperialist practices in psychoanalytic writing will want to read [this book].

Discourse

Dazzling.

SubStance

Julia Kristeva’s Powers of Horror, which theorizes the notion of the ‘abject’ in a series of blisteringly insightful analyses, is as relevant, as necessary, and as courageous today as it seemed in 1984.

Peter Connor

Critics who seek an alternative to sexist and, in general, imperialist practices in psychoanalytic writing will want to read [this book].-- "Discourse"

Julia Kristeva's Powers of Horror, which theorizes the notion of the 'abject' in a series of blisteringly insightful analyses, is as relevant, as necessary, and as courageous today as it seemed in 1984.--Peter Connor, Barnard College

Dazzling.-- "SubStance"

From the Publisher