Facing Postmodernity: Contemporary French Thought (Social Futures Series) [Hardcover]

Max Silverman (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0415128935 | ISBN-13: 978-0415128933 | Publication Date: May 5, 1999

Facing Postmodernity explains French cultural theory by grounding it in the politics of the issues facing France today such as:
* the breaking of the city
* racism
* the crisis of culture
* new citizenship.
It discusses some of the major responses to postmodernity by contemporary French thinkers, both the very well known -Lyotard, Levinas, Derrida - and those who will be less familiar to a non-French audience. In doing so, it addresses the questions central to the postmodern debate whatever country it takes place in; questions of history, of representation, identity and community.

Editorial Reviews

Review

...the book's many strengths...include its accessible discussion of complex ideas, its fair-minded treatment of each side of a given issue, its many original insights into the nature of postmodernity, and its complete mastery of an impressive bibliography of French thought. Concluding optimistically that French ideas will play a vital role in the reconstruction of 'the human' beyond the Enlightenment, Facing Postmodernity is an indispensable source for anyone interested in comtemporary France and postmodernism..
–Michael F. Leruth, L'Esprit Createur, Spring 2001

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Routledge (May 5, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415128935
• ISBN-13: 978-0415128933
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,893,672 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Grounding the Post: A Great Synthesis, December 30, 2001

By 

Michael Spivey, Ph.D. (Kean a horror movie fan from Wagram ,NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Facing Postmodernity: Contemporary French Thought (Social Futures Series) (Paperback)

Silverman's book is a very good read and interesting throughout. Specifically, The argument provides a much needed balance between modernity-as-the-fixing-of-identity and postmodern-fragmentation-of-identity. Instead of allowing for an overpowering of the postmodern perspective (floating free from any relation to modernity), Silverman's work is best at making salient the tension between the two--the borderzone between identity-as-essence and identity-as-conjuncture. As Silverman notes, real people experience this tension in their lives; both being ironic in their social effectivity (I like his insight in applying this tension to the discussion of new racism). I utilize this same logic in my recently released book, "Native Americans in the Carolina Borderlands: A Critical Ethnography, Carolinas Press, 2000." In the end, Silverman's book provided me with another well-done synthesis of the ongoing debates between Modernity and Postmodernity--grounding the "Post" nicely in contemporary French society and culture. A must read for modernists and postmodernists, students of sociology, social theory, and cultural studies.