Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection (European Perspectives Series) (Paperback)

~ Julia Kristeva (Author), Leon S. Roudiez (Translator) "There looms, within abjection, one of those violent, dark revolts of being, directed against a threat that seems to emanate from an exorbitant outside or..." (more)
Key Phrases: incest dread, biblical impurity, pour une autre fois, Mary Douglas, New Testament, Instalment Plan (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

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

Product Description

-- Paul de Man

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Product Details

• Paperback: 219 pages
• Publisher: Columbia University Press (July 15, 1982)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0231053479
• ISBN-13: 978-0231053471
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #133,728 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Are You Subject to Abjection?, January 18, 2008

By	texasamazon - See all my reviews

Excellent resource for the Lacanian scholar, if you are looking specifically at abjection. If you are looking at Subjectivity theory overall, however, this is too specific. Luckily, my focus is abjection, and this book really did wonders for the article I'm working on!

7 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Difficult but worthwhile, ohmy!, March 10, 2005

By	B. P. Tankersley - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Don't be abjected even further than you already are, read this book and allow Kristeva's language to take you on a hallucinatory journey to the limits of symbolization. The act of reading this book can be, at times, an excersize in facing/coping with abjection. If you're patient, go slow, and finally understand thirty percent of this book, you'll be leagues ahead of most intellectuals out there.

0 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars abject waste of time, February 3, 2009

By	Jill B. "frustrated grad student" (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This book is unintelligible and I truly doubt that one would be "way ahead" of the intellectuals to understand 30% of it. Kristeva needs to tone down the effusive gibberish. The only parts I found interesting and accessible were her literary analyses. But, indeed, I would call this work pseudo-philosophy.