PAROXYSM

Παρουσίαση

Jean Baudrillard is one of the most controversial and stimulating figures in contemporary philosophy and cultural criticism. Whether embraced or reviled for his reflections on 'hyperreality', he never fails to evoke strong reactions. Yet, all too often, discussion of Baudrillard's ideas takes place at one remove, with much imputed to him, and it is sometimes claimed that his writing is too abstract or obscure to analyse rigorously. Paroxysm offers the reader a new way to approach Baudrillard's ideas through the use of the interview format.
Closely interviewed by the French journalist Philippe Petit, Baudrillard covers a vast range of topics, including Fukuyama, 1989 and the collapse of Communism; Bosnia, the Gulf War, Rwanda and the New World Order; globalization and universalization; the return of ethnic nationalisms; the nature of war; revisionism and Holocaust denial; Deleuze, Foucault, Bataille and Virilio; nihilism and the apocalyptic; the practice of writing; virtual reality; the West and the East; the culture of victimhood and repentance; human rights and citizenship; French intellectuals and engagement; the nature of capitalism today; consumer society and social exclusion; liberation; death, violence and necrophilia; reality, illusion and the media; and destabilization of all aspects of life, including sexuality.
Baudrillard's answers - which span politics, philosophy and culture - are concise, witty and trenchant, and they serve as both an accessible introduction to his ideas for the unfamiliar and a fascinating clarification of recent positions for the connoisseur. (From the publisher)

Περιεχόμενα

The Destiny of Value
Part One - Why Is There Nothing Rather Than Something?
Endgame
'A World Too Many'
The Great Game
Present Considerations
Part Two - In Search of Lost Forms
America, America...
'Photos are very beautiful, but you mustn't say so...'
The Childhood of Art
Unimpeded View or The Definitive Uncertainty of Thought
Notes