Customer Reviews

Louis Althusser (Transitions)

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This is undoubtedly the best book on Althusser in English to date. Others, such as Gregory Elliott's book, might be more comprehensive (but be sure to get the recent edition of Elliott's book, which corrects some errors of interpretation made in the first edition regarding Althusser's 1970s position) but this book by Montag (and, in fact, all of Montag's books) really gets at the crux of what Althusser's theories of reading and ideology are about. Especially useful to those working in literary analysis - there is also considerable discussion of Macherey in here, and there are Althusserian readings of Conrad, Defoe, and Althusser's own 'autobiography' in here.

You used to be able to download a sample of the main chapter from Palgrave Macmillan's website, so have a look for that, but there is more here than just that chapter.

I would also strongly recommend Montag's books on Swift (The Unthinkable Swift), Spinoza (Bodies, Masses, Power), and the various edited volumes he has been involved with, especially the collection of Macherey's writings (In a Materialist Way). Literary studies students might also find the essay on Frankenstein in the edition edited by Johanna Smith very useful, and students of Foucault will be interested in a paper by Montag in Yale French Studies no. 88.