Logics of failed revolt : French theory after May '68

Part 1. Revolution As Repetition. -- 1. Logics Of Failed Revolt. -- 2. May '68 And The Revolutionary Double Bind. -- Part 2. Politics As Tragic Impasse. -- 3. The Tragic Ear Of The Intellectual: Lacan. -- 4. Rigorous Dialectics: Althusser. -- 5. The Castration Drama Of The Maoist Intellectual: Jambet And Lardreau. -- Part 3. Conjuring The Impasse. -- 6. Third Terms: Barthes, Kristeva. -- 7. Tracking The Heterogeneous Contradiction: Kristeva. -- 8. Explosive Hysterics: Cixous. -- Part 4. Afterthoughts. -- 9. Hysterical Communities. -- 10. The Terrors Of Theory. Peter Starr. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [245]-260) And Index. Cover 1 Acknowledgments 7 Contents 9 Note on Translations and Citations 11 Introduction 15 PART I Revolution as Repetition 27 1. Logics of Failed Revolt 29 2. May '68 and the Revolutionary Double Bind 38 PART II Politics as Tragic Impasse 49 3. The Tragic Ear of the Intellectual: Lacan 51 4. Rigorous Dialectics: Althusser 91 5. The Castration Drama of the Maoist Intellectual: Jambet and Lardreau 102 PART III Conjuring the Impasse 125 6. Third Terms: Barthes, Kristeva 127 7. Tracking the Heterogeneous Contradiction: Kristeva 154 8. Explosive Hysterics: Cixous 179 PART IV Afterthoughts 199 9. Hysterical Communities 201 10. The Terrors of Theory 208 Appendix: Marx/Bakunin 219 Notes 227 Bibliography 259 Index 275 Logics of Failed Revolt uses the events of May '68 as a historical touchstone for examining the political ramifications of that body of literary philosophical, and psychoanalytic work we in America have come to know as French theory. More precisely, it explores the strategically central role, within theoretical discourse of the period largely defined by May '68, of a constellation of commonplace 'explanations' for the necessary failure of established modes of revolutionary action, and hence of the widespread perception of politics proper as a dead end Using the events of May '68 as a historical touchstone, this book examines the political ramifications of the literary, philosophical, and psychoanalytic work known as French theory.