Dissensus: On Politics and Aesthetics

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Dissensus: On Politics and Aesthetics brings together some of Jacques Rancire's key recent writings on art and politics to show the critical potential of two of his most important concepts: the aesthetics of politics and the politics of aesthetics. In this illuminating collection, Rancire engages in a radical critique of some of his major contemporaries on questions of art and politics: Gilles Deleuze, Antonio Negri, Giorgio Agamben, Alain Badiou and Jacques Derrida. The essays show how Rancire's ideas can be used to analyse contemporary trends in both art and politics, including the events surrounding 9/11, war in the contemporary consensual age, and the ethical turn in aesthetics and politics. Rancire elaborates new directions for the concepts of politics and communism, as well as the notion of what a 'politics of art' might be. With a brand new introduction from the translator this is a superb collection of the work of one of the world's most influential contemporary thinkers.

Reviews

Rewarding in its scholarly engagement with Derrida, Arendt, Lyotard et al ... [Rancire] has a certain sardonic precision. -- The Guardian
"Steven Corcoran has provided a timely and coherently organized collection of Rancire's short writings, one that can stand as a solid introduction to the author's thought...There is a distinct shift of emphasis that occurs in Rancire's writings around the late 1990's, however, and the task of a good collection would be to capture both periods and the thematic interaction between them. The writings gathered here, which date from 1996 to 2004, perform both tasks admirably...For those who seek to get a sense of both the richness and the breadth of the work of one of the most significant thinkers of our time, Dissensus provides a valuable resource. I can think of no better starting point than this collection." -Todd May, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews
An accessible introduction to Rancire's thought and an essential collection of his essays. -- Marx & Philosophy Review of Books
Title mention in Times Higher Education, January 2010

Author Bio

Jacques Rancire taught at the University of Paris VIII, France, from 1969 to 2000, occupying the Chair of Aesthetics and Politics from 1990 until his retirement. Steven Corcoran is a writer and translator living in Berlin. He has edited and/or translated several works by Jacques Rancire, including Dissensus (Continuum, 2010), and two works by Alain Badiou, Polemics (Verso, 2006) and Conditions (Continuum, 2008).