In this acclaimed book, renowned Harvard scholar Susan Rubin Suleiman discusses individual and collective memories of World War II, as reflected in literary memoirs, autobiographical novels, works of history and philosophy, and films. Suleiman argues that memories of World War II transcend national boundaries, due not only to the global nature of the war but also to the increasingly global presence of the Holocaust as a site of collective memory. Among the works she discusses are Jean-Paul Sartre's essays on the (...) Occupation and Resistance in France; Marcel Ophuls's innovative documentary on the Nazi interrogator Klaus Barbie, who was tried for crimes against humanity in 1987; István Szabó's film "Sunshine," a chronicle of Jewish identity in central Europe; literary memoirs by Jorge Semprun and Elie Wiesel; and experimental writing by child survivors of the Holocaust, Georges Perec and Raymond Federman. (shrink)

Through case studies in cultural history, sociology, semiology, and literature, the book discusses the processes that enabled the French intellectual nobility ...

On his death in 2007, Richard Rorty was heralded by the New York Times as “one of the world’s most influential contemporary thinkers.” Controversial on the left and the right for his critiques of objectivity and political radicalism, Rorty experienced a renown denied to all but a handful of living philosophers. In this masterly biography, Neil Gross explores the path of Rorty’s thought over the decades in order to trace the intellectual and professional journey that led him to that prominence. (...) The child of a pair of leftist writers who worried that their precocious son “wasn’t rebellious enough,” Rorty enrolled at the University of Chicago at the age of fifteen. There he came under the tutelage of polymath Richard McKeon, whose catholic approach to philosophical systems would profoundly influence Rorty’s own thought. Doctoral work at Yale led to Rorty’s landing a job at Princeton, where his colleagues were primarily analytic philosophers. With a series of publications in the 1960s, Rorty quickly established himself as a strong thinker in that tradition—but by the late 1970s Rorty had eschewed the idea of objective truth altogether, urging philosophers to take a “relaxed attitude” toward the question of logical rigor. Drawing on the pragmatism of John Dewey, he argued that philosophers should instead open themselves up to multiple methods of thought and sources of knowledge—an approach that would culminate in the publication of Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature , one of the most seminal and controversial philosophical works of our time. In clear and compelling fashion, Gross sets that surprising shift in Rorty’s thought in the context of his life and social experiences, revealing the many disparate influences that contribute to the making of knowledge. As much a book about the growth of ideas as it is a biography of a philosopher, Richard Rorty will provide readers with a fresh understanding of both the man and the course of twentieth-century thought. (shrink)

Avec une rare intrépidité mais solidement préparé à la tâche, l'historien élabore une fresque de la fin du 19e siècle (1894) à nos jours. Trois grandes époques : l'avant-guerre, l'entre-deux-guerres et l'après-guerre icônisées en trois héros ou plutôt héraults : Barrès, Gide, Sartre. Sorte de "roman" intellectuel très vivant et panorama diachronique enlevant. [SDM].

Through network diagrams and sustained narrative, sociologist Randall Collins traces the development of philosophical thought from ancient Greece to modern ...

Examining in detail the work of consecration carried out by elite education systems, Bourdieu analyzes the distinctive forms of power—political, intellectual, bureaucratic, and economic—by means of which contemporary societies are governed.

Creativity and civil courage are major dimensions of an intellectual's authority and contribute towards the enrichment of democracy. This book develops a sociological account of civil courage and creative behaviour in order to enhance our understanding of the nature of intellectuals' involvement in society. Barbara A. Misztal employs both theoretical-analytic and empirical components to develop a typology of intellectuals who have shown civil courage and examines the biographies of twelve Nobel Peace Prize laureates, including Elie Wiesel, Andrei Sakharov and Linus (...) C. Pauling, to illustrate acts of courage which have embodied the values of civil society. She advances our understanding of the nature of intellectuals' public involvement and their contribution to social well-being. In the current climate of fear and insecurity, as governments are forced to deal with issues of increasing complexity, this is a pioneering sociological book with a highly original approach. (shrink)

Maquisard intellectuel ou arriviste sous la botte, symbole de l'erreur politique ou bouc émissaire d'une gauche reconvertie : vingt ans après sa mort, Sartre reste l'objet de controverses. Les textes réunis dans ce recueil invitent à dépasser ces vues schématiques ; ils plaident pour une approche complexe qui avance dans les zones en demi-teintes faites des contradictions auxquelles Sartre, pas plus que d'autres, n'a su échapper.