Julia Kristeva's Hannah Arendt brings together two of the best minds in 20th-century philosophy; two who are especially noteworthy because they are visionary women in a field long dominated by men. Appropriately, the book is, in part, a tribute to Arendt, one of a series of looks at female genius. Kristeva brings her considerable scholarly arsenal, which includes linguistics, literary criticism, philosophy, feminism, aesthetics, cultural studies, and psychoanalysis. In particular, her psychoanalytic bent makes for an incisive look at Arendt because she was "gripped from the start by that unique passion in which life and thought are one.... [She] consistently put life--both life itself and life as a concept to be analyzed--at the center of her work."
Arendt is certainly one of the 20th century's brightest intellectual luminaries. Penning The Human Condition and Eichmann in Jerusalem, she wove her accounts of philosophy with a unique penchant for narrative and personal reflection, vivified by her extraordinary life. Throughout this biography, Kristeva plies Arendt's trade, using Arendt's life to illuminate her thought. By turns she examines Arendt's use of narrative, her ratiocinations on Jewish-ness and anti-Semitism, and her political philosophy. Kristeva's insightfulness in this volume will help ensure her a place in the canon alongside Arendt. --Eric de Place
From Publishers Weekly
The author of Desire in Language and Powers of Horror takes on the author of The Human Condition and Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil in a new intellectual biography. Theorist, critic and psychoanalyst Julia Kristeva, who for many years has been professor of linguistics at the University of Paris, finds Hannah Arendt "gripped from the start by that unique passion in which life and thought are one," and traces both threads rigorously and with strong interpretive opinions. The book is the first of three in Kristeva's series on the Female Genius in the 20th century books on Melanie Klein and Colette are to follow. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Kirkus Reviews
The portrait that emerges is quirky, intentionally subjective, and finely detailed.
Review
"The portrait that emerges is quirky, intentionally subjective, and finely detailed." -- Kirkus Reviews
Review
An elegant, sophisticated biography replete with powerful psychoanalytic insight.
Book Description
Centering on the theme of female genius, Hannah Arendt emphasizes three features of the philosopher's work. First, by exploring Arendt's critique of Saint Augustine and her biographical essay on Rahel Varnhagen, Kristeva accentuates Arendt's commitment to recounting lives and to narration. Second, Kristeva reflects on Arendt's perspective on Judaism, anti-Semitism, and the "banality of evil." Finally, the biography brings together Arendt's intellectual itinerary, placing her enthusiasm for observing both social phenomena and political events in the context of her personal life.
About the Author
Julia Kristeva is an internationally known psychoanalyst and critic and is professor of linguistics at the University of Paris VII. She is the co-author of The Feminine and the Sacred, and author of many other highly regarded books, including Melanie Klein, Strangers to Ourselves, New Maladies of the Soul, Time and Sense, and The Sense and Non-Sense of Revolt all published by Columbia.Ross Guberman is the translator of Julia Kristeva's New Maladies of theSoul and Time and Sense, and editor of Julia Kristeva Interviews.
Hannah Arendt FROM THE PUBLISHER
Twenty-five years after her death, we are still coming to terms with the controversial figure of Hannah Arendt. Interlacing the life and work of this seminal twentieth century philosopher, Julia Kristeva provides us with an elegant, sophisticated biography replete with historical and philosophical insight. Centering on the theme of female genius, Hannah Arendt emphasizes three features of the philosopher´s work. First, by exploring Arendt´s critique of Saint Augustine and her biographical essay on Rahel Varnhagen, Kristeva accentuates Arendt´s commitment to recounting lives and to narration. Second, Kristeva reflects on Arendt´s perspective on Judaism, anti-Semitism, and the "banality of evil." Finally, the biography brings together Arendt´s intellectual itinerary, placing her enthusiasm for observing both social phenomena and political events in the context of her personal life.Drawing on fragments of Arendt´s most intimate correspondence with her longtime lover Martin Heidegger and her husband Heinrich Blucher, excerpts from her mother´s "Unser Kind" (a diary tracking Hannah´s formative years), and passages from Arendt´s philosophical writings, Kristeva weaves a luminous story. With a thorough thematic index and bibliographical references, Hannah Arendt offers a major breakthrough in the understanding of an essential thinker.
SYNOPSIS
Centering on the theme of female genius, Hannah Arendt emphasizes three features of the philosopher´s work. First, by exploring Arendt´s critique of Saint Augustine and her biographical essay on Rahel Varnhagen, Kristeva accentuates Arendt´s commitment to recounting lives and to narration. Second, Kristeva reflects on Arendt´s p
FROM THE CRITICS
Booknews
In the original French, this volume was the first of three works exploring female genius. is an intellectual biography that draws on Arendt's correspondence with her lover, Martin Heidegger, and her husband, Heinrich Blucher, on entries from a diary of her childhood kept by Arendt's mother, and on passages from Arendt's philosophical writings. Kristeva, a psychoanalyst and U. of Paris linguist, emphasizes Arendt's commitment to narration and recounting lives, placing her gift for observing both social phenomena and political events in the context of her personal life. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Kirkus Reviews
Intellectual all-star Kristeva (Possessions, 1998) offers this study of Arendt as the first installment of her new trilogy on female genius (the next two will deal with Melanie Klein and Colette). Kristeva begins provocatively, questioning the very existence of the female genius and purposefully leaving the question unanswered. Her stance is doubly provocative in relation to Arendt, who would seem to qualify as a genius by anyone's standards. Born in Linden, Germany, in 1906, Arendt was an intellectual prodigy who quarreled with her schoolteachers so relentlessly that she was eventually expelled for insubordination. This bad start notwithstanding, she went on to earn a doctorate in philosophy at the University of Heidelberg and became the protege (and lover) of the influential philosopher Martin Heidegger. She first emerged as a major figure in philosophy and intellectual life with the 1951 publication of The Origins of Totalitarianism, a monumental work that argued against humanity's own absurdity (in response to the cultural degradation of fascism, communism, and WWII) and offered a critique of the prevailing school of existentialism. But this is not a biography; Kristeva's portrait takes the form of an intellectual dialogue between Arendt and herself. She integrates a full range of Arendt's philosophical work into her study, and includes many texts that illuminate aspects of Arendt's private life (including her correspondence with Heidegger and husband Herman Clucher, and extracts from the diary of Arendt's mother). The portrait that emerges is quirky, intentionally subjective, and finely detailed. Not a volume to be picked up lightly, unless you enjoy tussling with sentences heavilyladen with philosophical jargon and esoterica-but Kristeva fans are a diehard and hardy bunch, and they'll find plenty to be excited about here. Readers' Subscription Book Club alternate selection
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