Subjects and Simulations: Between Baudrillard and Lacoue-Labarthe

(Hardback)

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Subjects and Simulations presents essays focused on suffering and sublimity, representation and subjectivity, and the relation of truth and appearance in the twenty-first century. Inspired by the work of Jean Baudrillard, Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe and JeanLuc Nancy, sixteen authors study how the real reasserts itself in an age of every more fragmented media, and how art and literature give us access to forms of truth that elude philosophy. How does representation grant us access to the place once occupied by the subject Is political life possible Can plural thinking be retrieved Will metaphor and simulation give us ways of being in an evanescent world The volume engages discussions of French and Continental philosophy, post-structuralism, deconstruction, simulacra, aesthetics, existentialism, and media theory.

Reviews

In this important new book, the late Hugh J. Silverman and Anne O'Byrne have brought together insightful and engaging essays on two figures now often neglected: Lacoue Labarthe and Baudrillard. The excellent set of writers in this volume make important claims against this neglect while engaging important topics in recent Continental philosophy. A highly recommended read. -- Peter Gratton, Memorial University of Newfoundland
In this remarkable, interdisciplinary collection, a group of prominent scholars rethink the converging and diverging legacies of Baudrillard and Lacoue-Labarthe in the aftermath of their deaths in 2007. By pushing the boundaries of philosophy, psychoanalysis, aesthetics, politics and media theory, the essays probe the recalcitrance of the real and the remainders of subjectivity in the age of the ever-growing intensity and the new forms of the seduction of simulacra. With elegant and comprehensive introductions written by the editors, Anne OByrne and Hugh J. Silverman, Subjects and Simulations is an indispensable reading for anyone interested in the rapidly changing status of 'reality,' 'fiction,' and subjectivity, as well as in the political and ethical challenges brought about by these changes. -- Ewa Plonowska Ziarek, SUNY Buffalo

Author Bio

Anne O'Byrne is associate professor of philosophy at Stony Brook University. Hugh J. Silverman was professor of philosophy and comparative literary and cultural studies at Stony Brook University. He was also executive director of the International Association for Philosophy and Literature (IAPL) and co-director of the International Philosophical Seminar.