Overview

Diotima at the Barricades argues that the debates that emerged from the burgeoning of feminist intellectual life in post-modern France involved complex, structured, and reciprocal exchanges on the interpretation and position of Plato and other ancient texts in the western philosophical and literary tradition. Paul Allen Miller shows how individual works of Anglo-American figures such as Toril Moi, Judith Butler, and Kaja Silverman, as well as movements such as queer theory, are rooted in feminist theoretical debates that began in the sixties in France and have continued right up to the present day. Miller demonstrates that French philosophy as represented by writers as diverse as Julia Kristeva, Hélène Cixous, Sarah Kofman, Jacques Lacan, Jacques Derrida, and Luce Irigaray have had a profound influence on literary, theoretical, and cultural studies in the Anglo-American world. He reveals that in order to understand the intellectual substructure of much of later Anglo-American critical theory, it is crucial to examine the development of post-modern French feminist thought in relation to its dialogue with antiquity. In modern feminism and post-structuralism, the ancient world, and Plato in particular, truly function as our theoretical unconscious.

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9780199640218

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Reviews

a thorough and often challenging map to the particularly complex Platonic legacy of twentieth-century feminist philosophy. * Adam Lecznar, Classics for All * anyone interested in French theory, in particular in French feminist thinkers and their interaction with Greek philosophy, above all Plato and Aristotle, will find here a clear, well written and thoughtful guide through the complexities of that strand of European continental philosophy. * Marco Formisano, Thersites * In summary, his book not only constitutes an excellent source study, but also an important read for anyone interested in enriching their understanding of the intriguing engagement these three postmodern French thinkers had with the ancient text and with their male counterparts in the defining moments of postmodern intellectual thought. * Maria Palaiologou, Hypatia Reviews *

In summary, his book not only constitutes an excellent source study, but also an important read for anyone interested in enriching their understanding of the intriguing engagement these three postmodern French thinkers had with the ancient text and with their male counterparts in the defining moments of postmodern intellectual thought. * Maria Palaiologou, Hypatia Reviews *

Author Information

Paul Allen Miller is Carolina Distinguished Professor of Classics and Comparative Literature at the University of South Carolina.

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