Passions of Our Time

May 28, 2018
Linguist, psychoanalyst, and novelist Kristeva (The Severed Head) has produced a heavy-going collection of scholarly essays, written in dense poststructuralist academese. Its topics include “maternal eroticism,” disability, secularism and
religion, diversity and cultural relativism, and the death penalty. Kristeva also explores the influence of Simone de Beauvoir, Sigmund Freud, Jacques Lacan, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, St. Teresa of Avila, and Syrian psychoanalyst Rafah Nached. Kristeva’s ideas can be intriguing, but her delivery tends toward the tedious and convoluted. A representative sample: “Maternal reliance as a detotalized universe made up of heterogeneous strategies cannot be fixed in any type of monolithic representation, much less worshipped as a goddess.” She is most successful avoiding the abstract and grounding her discussions in current events, as when asserting that “while the cult of identity (national or sexual) engenders new militancies, the European space runs against this trend, since in Europe ‘national identity’ is no longer a cult but is now a constantly evolving reality to question.” This collection will appeal to Kristeva’s dedicated readers, but is unlikely to provide an entry point to those new to her work.

October 1, 2018

In this wide-ranging collection, philosopher, feminist, psychoanalyst, and language lover Kristeva presents densely considered and engaging thoughts and reflections. Pieces range from autobiographical, such as the opening essay on her native Bulgarian culture's reverence for all matters textual through professionally acute and specialized examinations of Freudian concepts and contemporary inheritances from the works of Lacan, Merleau-Ponty, and Barthes. While the pieces are lucid and carefully argued, each serves a high-calorie portion of deeply webbed exposition, making the volume most suitable for graduate departments in linguistics, psychology, and philosophy and for large public library collections that serve curious readers seeking connections between wholly contemporary communication models, such as social media, and classic works on the problematic between the self and reflective and experiential language. Kristeva's scope is both international and cross-cultural, reaching as far as China, and as close to Western experiences as suburbia's socioeconomic decline. VERDICT As ever, Kristeva presents her own positions with determination she is able to validate from varied sources and sound documentation.--Francisca Goldsmith, Library Ronin, Worcester, MA

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