The Age of the Poets revisits the age-old problem of the relation between literature and philosophy, arguing against both Plato and Heidegger's famous arguments. Philosophy neither has to ban the poets from the republic nor abdicate its own powers to the sole benefit of poetry or art. Instead, it must declare the end of what Badiou names the "age of the poets," which stretches from Hoelderlin to Celan. Drawing on ideas from his first publication on the subject, "The Autonomy of the Aesthetic Process," Badiou offers an illuminating set of readings of contemporary French prose writers, giving us fascinating insights into the theory of the novel while also accounting for the specific position of literature between science and ideology.

New and illuminating set of analyses of literature from one of France's most important living philosophers

About the Author
Alain Badiou teaches philosophy at the Ecole normale superieure and the College international de philosophie in Paris. In addition to several novels, plays and political essays, he has published a number of major philosophical works, including Theory of the Subject, Being and Event, Manifesto for Philosophy, and Gilles Deleuze. His recent books include The Rebirth of History, Ethics, Metapolitics, Polemics, The Communist Hypothesis, Five Lessons on Wagner, and Wittgenstein's Anti-Philosophy.

Reviews
A figure like Plato or Hegel walks here among us! -- Slavoj Zizek
An heir to Jean-Paul Sartre and Louis Althusser. * New Statesman *
Badiou has been an intellectual hero of France's anti-capitalist left since the Paris street protests of 1968. * BBC HARDtalk *
One of the most important philosophers writing today. -- Joan Copjec



Book Information
ISBN 9781781685693
Author Alain Badiou
Format Paperback
Page Count 252
Imprint Verso Books
Publisher Verso Books
Weight(grams) 332g
Dimensions(mm) 210mm * 140mm * 19mm