"A book of philosophy very much captivated with music . . . an acoustemological elaboration of [Nancy's] theorization of difference." — Journal of the American Musicological SocietyIn this lyrical meditation on listening, Jean-Luc Nancy examines sound in relation to the human body. How is listening different from hearing? What does listening entail? How does what is heard differ from what is seen? Can philosophy even address listening, écouter, as opposed t...

"[From] our preeminent living philosopher of being-with. . . . A profound―and profoundly necessary―meditation on sex and being." —Tim Dean, author of Unlimited Intimacy: Reflections on the Subculture of BarebackingSex, more than just a part of our experience, troubles our conceptions of existence.Drawing on a fascinating array of sources, ancient and modern, philosophical and literary, Jean-Luc Nancy explores and upholds the form-giving thrust of t...

"A courtship between philosophy and literature that has never been presented with such wit, grace, and finesse" from one of France's leading thinkers (Jean-Michel Rabaté, from the Introduction).Expectation is a major volume of Jean-Luc Nancy's writings on literature, written across three decades but, for the most part, previously unavailable in English.More substantial than literary criticism, these essays collectively negotiate literature's relation...

The concept of community is tainted by the events of the twentieth century, frequently appropriated by totalitarian regimes for the purposes of exclusion and oppression. In this dialogue with Peter Engelmann, philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy attempts to reframe community as central to a reconceptualization of politics and democracy.Observing that all our interactions are in some way shared experiences, Nancy demonstrates that a common sense of life precedes our existence as individuals: ...

From one of France's leading contemporary thinkers, "an astutely reasoned philosophical text, offering a revolutionary analysis of theistic religion" ( The Midwest Book Review).This book is a profound and eagerly anticipated investigation into what is left of a monotheistic religious spirit—notably, a minimalist faith that is neither confessional nor credulous. Articulating this faith as works and as an objectless hope, Nancy deconstructs Christianity in se...

The renowned philosopher offers "a powerful reflection on our times . . . and the fate of our civilization, as revealed by the catastrophe of Fukushima" (François Raffoul, Louisiana State University).In 2011, a tsunami flooded Japan's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, causing three nuclear meltdowns, the effects of which will spread through generations and have an impact on all living things. In After Fukushima, philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy exa...

The renowned philosopher provides "noteworthy contributions to themes connected with images, imagination, representation, aesthetics, and . . . religion." — Journal of American Academy of ReligionWhat is this power that lies in the depths and recesses of an image—which is always only an impenetrable surface? What secrets are concealed in the ground or in the figures of an image—which never does anything but show just exactly what it is and nothing else? How...

From Plato’s Symposium to Hegel’s truth as a “Bacchanalian revel,” from the Bacchae of Euripedes to Nietzsche, philosophy holds a deeply ambivalent relation to the pleasures of intoxication. At the same time, from Baudelaire to Lowry, from Proust to Dostoyevsky, literature and poetry are also haunted by scenes of intoxication, as if philosophy and literature share a theme that announces and navigates their proximities and differences.For Nancy, intoxication constitutes an excess th...

Do not be afraid, join us, come back! You've had your anti-communist fun, and you are pardoned for it-time to get serious once again!-Slavoj ZizekResponding to Alain Badiou's 'communist hypothesis', the leading political philosophers of the Left convened in London in 2009 to take part in a landmark conference to discuss the perpetual, persistent notion that, in a truly emancipated society, all things should be owned in common. This volume brings together their discussions o...

The renowned philosopher contemplates the medium of drawing in "a book full of dazzling insights, imaginative curves and provocative renewals" (Sarah Clift, University of King's College).In 2007, philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy curated an exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts in Lyon. This book, originally written for that exhibition, explores the interplay between drawing and form—viewing the act of drawing as a formative force. Recalling that the terms 'drawing' and '...

In Doing, Jean-Luc Nancy, one of the most prominent and lucid articulators of contemporary French theory and philosophy, examines the precarious but urgent relationship between being and doing. His book is not so much a call to action as a summons to more vigorous thinking, the examination and reflection that must precede any effective action. The first section of the book considers this matter tersely: Jean-Luc Nancy’s quickness of language and grace of humor lead the reader care...

A beautiful, profound series of reflections on the body by one of the most prominent and consequential philosophers of continental EuropeThis landmark volume brings into English Jean-Luc Nancy’s last completed work and concludes his remarkable philosophical reflections on the body, a project he began almost thirty years ago. Taking the body as an intersection of pulsing life and destructive cruelty on a global scale, Nancy’s account becomes more vivid, more physica...