Understanding Rancire, Understanding Modernism

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The contemporary philosopher Jacques Rancire has become over the last two decades one of the most influential voices in philosophy, political theory, and literary, art historical, and film criticism. His work reexamines the divisions that have defined our understanding of modernity, such as art and politics, representation and abstraction, and literature and philosophy. Working across these divisions, he engages the historical roots of modernism at the end of the eighteenth century, uncovering forgotten texts in the archive that trouble our notions of intellectual history. The contributors to Understanding Rancire, Understanding Modernism engage with the multiplicity of Rancires thought through close readings of his texts, through comparative readings with other philosophers, and through an engagement with modernist works of art and literature. The final section of the volume includes an extended glossary of the most important terms used by Rancire, which will be a valuable resource for experts and students alike.

Reviews

Patrick Brays collection Understanding Rancire, Understanding Modernism brings together some of the foremost scholars engaging with the work of Jacques Rancire today. What is perhaps most notable about it, however, is that reading it is akin to finding oneself in the unpredictable library that Rancire laments the loss of in the volumes concluding interview. If the old Bibliothque Nationales heterogeneous booksgrouped together side by side, enabled Rancire to write as he does, crossing disciplinary borders and thinking around singular problems in the mode of discovery rather than mastery, the volumes approach to Rancire operates on a similar principal (p. 277). Allowing the reader unfamiliar with Rancires work to find footholds in the definitions of key concepts found in the volumes third section, the collection also offers unexpected new directions. * H-France *
Brays collection and Bloomsburys series, generally provides a wealth of intriguing new theoretical possibilities. * French Studies *
In addition to highlighting the range and influence of Rancires work, these essays confirm the rigour, richness, and robust critical independence of the responses this work is now inspiring. As a result, this collection not only offers a compelling account of current work around Rancire: it relaunches this work anew. * Martin Crowley, Reader in Modern French Thought and Culture, University of Cambridge, UK *
Deviating wisely down the byways of Rancires writing by attending closely to the textual and conceptual singularity of a significant constellation of hitherto less extensively debated works, this collection does indeed provide invaluable new understanding of his unfailingly productive struggle with modernism. The volume is suffused with that acutely responsive sensitivity to the shifting displacements of his unclassifiable project which Rancire speaks of in the substantial and wide-ranging closing interview. * Oliver Davis, Reader in French Studies, University of Warwick, UK *
A cornucopia of some of the best critical minds working in French theory today. It contains a challenging yet highly accessible collection of essays that illuminate the importance of one of the most important theorists of today. Patrick M. Bray has done a masterful job in editing a collection that will have a long shelf life. * Lawrence D. Kritzman, John D. Willard Prof of French and Comparative Literature, Dartmouth College, USA *

Author Bio

Patrick M. Bray is Associate Professor of French at the Ohio State University, USA. He is the author of The Novel Map: Space and Subjectivity in Nineteenth-Century French Fiction (2013) and co-editor of Building the Louvre: Architectures of Politics and Art (2014).