Community, Myth and Recognition in Twentieth-Century French Literature and Thought

Nikolaj Liibecker is Fellow and Tutor in French at St. John's College, Oxford University, UK.

"With Community, Myth and Recognition in Twentieth-Century French Literature and Thought Nikolaj Lubecker has given us a remarkably lucid account of the logics at work in a series of crucial moments of French cultural and intellectual history. Finally we have an analysis that clarifies Breton and Bataille's respective roles in the Contre-attaque movement and justly emphasises the hirtherto under-researched influences of Sorel and Kojeve. We are also offered a nuanced, insightful and long overdue study of the post-war 'morality of revolt' articulated in the interchanges between Breton and Bataille. Then a re-evaluation of Sartre, who turns out to be a much more interesting thinker than current orthoxies would have us believe, and finally a tremendously original and elegant reading of Barthes, including of his meditation on how to live together'. Lubecker's careful, subtle and sympathetic voice is an excellent guide over this terrain." - Professor Patrick ffrench, French Department, Kings College London, UK 'This is a courageous and refreshing defence of aesthetic experience, compellingly argued through rigorous readings of some of the most important French intellectuals of the last century.' -Modern and Contemporary France In this intricate and carefully crafted piece Nikolaj Lubecker examines the means by which Bataille, Breton, Sartre, and Barthes seek to explore, (re)define, and establish social engagements... Lubecker's reading of Barthes is particularly original, insightful and adept this is a lucid and at times highly original piece. -French Studies vol 65, issue 3

• Introduction; 1. The Convulsive Community: Breton and Bataille in the late 1930s; 2. Transparent and Absent Communities: Breton and Bataille in the 1940s; 3. The Literary Community: Sartre in the late 1940s; 4. The End of Community? Early Barthes, Late Barthes; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.