Description: "In his philosophical project, aesthetic orientation and political leanings, Alain Badiou is a product of, and a leading advocate for, European modernism. From the milieu of May 1968 to the contemporary 'postmodern' ethos, Badiou returns, time and again, to avant-garde modernist texts - aesthetic, political, philosophical and scientific - as inspiration for his response to present situations. This volume explores Badiou's readings of aesthetic, political and scientific modernities, connects Badiou's thought with the various strands of aesthetic, philosophical, amorous and political modernisms, and includes a glossary of Badiou's key concepts and categories"--
Brief description: Arka Chattopadhyay is Assistant Professor in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar, India. He co-editor of Samuel Beckett and the Encounter of Philosophy and Literature (with James Martell, 2013) and Endlessness of Ending: Samuel Beckett and the Extensions of Mind (with Dirk Van Hulle et al, 2017). He is co-editor of the journal Sanglap: Journal of Literary and Cultural Inquiry (with Sourit Bhattacharya).
Review Quotes:
"Should Alain Badiou-one of the most controversial thinkers alive who is working for the contemporary renewal of Platonism-also be able to guide us through "modernism"? The essays in the present collection contend so and they do this with force, demonstrating how we can think mathematics, love, art and even politics anew: from the perspective of our (modern) Plato." --Frank Ruda, Professor of Modern and Contemporary Philosophy, University of Dundee, UK
"A vigorous and varied collection of essays that examine Badiou's relationship to modernisms in art, mathematics, music, and literature, and the eternal modernity of his thinking. The conditions of Badiou's philosophy derive from his accounts of particular works of truth produced in specific historical situations which they nevertheless transcend, and by tracing the complexity and the contradictions that are inherent to this dialectic, these essays generate both nuanced interpretations and powerful theorizations." --Kenneth Reinhard, Research Professor of Comparative Literature and English, University of California, Los Angeles, USA "The question of Alain Badiou's 'modernism' has haunted his critical reception. Whether according praise or blame this reception has more often that not sought simply to situate Badiou in its own terms, failing thereby to render an immanent account of his conditional, modernist allegiances.Thankfully, as the combined contributions to this expertly edited volume show, Badiou's philosophy of 'true change' both explodes and renders void any such self-serving placement, demonstrating in turn how the philosopher establishes himself generically within a 'second-modernity.'" --A. J. Bartlett, Lecturer, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia, and author of Badiou and Plato: An Education by Truths (2011)