The Years of Theory: Postwar French Thought to the Present by Fredric Jameson (ed. Carson Welch; Verso Books 2024) collects Jameson’s seminars on French theory and introduces 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.
– Fredric Jameson, The Years of Theory: Postwar French Thought to the Present (ed. Carson Welch; Verso Books, 2024), book description from the publisher’s website
The text is in English. No illustrations.
