The Philosophy of

Julia Kristeva

Table of Contents

Frontispiece

General Introduction to the Library of Living Philosophers

Founder’s General Introduction to the Library of Living Philosophers

Advisory Board

Preface

PART ONE: Intellectual Autobiography of Julia Kristeva

Sample of Kristeva’s Handwriting

Intellectual Autobiography of Julia Kristeva: Je me voyage, A Journey Across Borders and Through Identities, Conversation with Samuel Dock

PART TWO: DESCRIPTIVE AND CRITICAL ESSAYS ON THE
PHILOSOPHY OF JULIA KRISTEVA WITH REPLIES

I. Language and Semiotics

1. Dominique Ducard: The Semiotic Chora and the Inner Life of Language

2. John Lechte: Language, Literature, and the Founding Murder in the Work of Julia Kristeva

3. Eléana Mylona: Julia Kristeva Between the Semiotic and the Symbolic: The Process of Significance

Reply to Dominique Ducard, John Lechte, and Eléana Mylona

II. Theory of Literature

4. Marian Hobson: Julia Kristeva’s Farewell to Philosophy

5. Miglena Nikolchina: Signifiance and Transubstantiation: The Returns of the Avant-Garde in Kristeva’s Philosophy of Literature

6. Maria Margaroni: Artaud’s Madness and the Literary Obscene: Humanism and Its Double in Julia Kristeva

7. Philippe Forest: Birth of the Novel, Yesterday and Today

Reply to Marian Hobson, Miglena Nikolchina, Maria Margaroni, and Philippe Forest

III. Psychoanalysis

8. Bernard Brusset: Julia Kristeva: Original and Innovative Contributions at The Core of Psychoanalytic Theory

9. Jean-Louis Baldacci: Abjection, Reliance, and Sublimation

10. Jean-François Rabain: Julia Kristeva, Reader of Aragon

Reply to Bernard Brusset, Jean-Louis Baldacci, and Jean-François Rabain

IV. Art and Aesthetics

11. Anish Kapoor: Dear Julia

12. Elaine P. Miller: Julia Kristeva on the Severed Head and Other Maternal “Capital Visions”

13. Carin Franzén: An Antidote to the Crisis of Contemporary Culture: Rereading Kristeva on Duras

14. Françoise Coblence: Aesthetics According to Julia Kristeva

Reply to Anish Kapoor, Elaine P. Miller, Carin Franzén, and Françoise Coblence

V. Philosophy in the Novels

15. David Uhrig: No Present Apart

16. Pierre-Louis Fort: Julia Kristeva and the Detective Novel: Fiction and Metaphysics

Reply to David Uhrig and Pierre-Louis Fort

VI. Melancholy, Love, and the Sacred

17. Edward S. Casey: Depression: Heading Down and Out

18. Alina Feld: Melancholia: Passing Through and Beyond

19. Michal Ben-Naftali: A Baroque Reading of Tales of Love

20. Keren Mock: Language and Sacredness in the Quest for Subjectivity

Reply to Edward S. Casey, Alina N. Feld, Michal Ben-Naftali, and Keren Mock

VII. Desire, Knowledge, and Belief

21. Robert Harvey: Of Incredibility in the Need to Believe: A Philosophical Exploration

22. Alain Delaye: The Need to Believe and the Desire to Know

Reply to Robert Harvey and Alain Delaye

VIII. Theory of Revolt

23. Emilia Angelova: Abjection and the Maternal Semiotic in Kristeva’s Intimate Revolt

24. Sarah K. Hansen: Intimate Revolt at the Margins of Community and the Hope of Postcoloniality

25. Daniel Cohn-Bendit: Hannah Arendt Prize Speech 2006

Reply to Emilia Angelova, Sarah K. Hansen, and Daniel Cohn-Bendit

IX. Maternity and Maternal Reliance

26. Rosemary Balsam: The Controversial Nature of Kristeva’s “Maternal Reliance”

27. Rachel Boué-Widawsky: Maternal Eroticism and the Journey of a Concept in Kristeva’s Work

28. Fanny Söderbäck: Maternal Enigmas: Kristeva and the Paradoxes of Motherhood

Reply to Rosemary Balsam, Rachel Boué-Widawsky, and Fanny Söderbäck

X. Philosophy of Public Health

29. Charles Gardou: The “Intimate Face” of a Common Thought and Action

30. Eivind Engebretsen: Evidence-Based Medicine and the Irreducible Singularity of Being: Kristeva’s Contribution to the Medical Humanities

31. Marie-Rose Moro: The Polyglot Imaginary, a Poetics, and a Clinic

32. Jean Vanier: “Their Look Pierces Our Shadows”

Reply to Charles Gardou, Eivind Engebretsen, Marie-Rose Moro, and Jean Vanier

XI. Ethics and Politics

33. Cecilia Sjöholm: From Denial to Forgiveness: Kristeva, Arendt, and Radicalization

34. Ewa Ziarek: A Materialist Ethics of Psychoanalysis? Reflections on Matter, Forgiveness, and Vulnerability

35. Noëlle McAfee: Kristeva’s Latent Political Theory

36. Kelly Oliver: The Democracy of Proximity and Kristeva’s New Humanism

Reply to Cecilia Sjöholm, Ewa Ziarek, Noëlle McAfee, and Kelly Oliver

PART THREE: Bibliography of the Writings of Julia Kristeva

Index

Publisher: Open Court Publishing Company
Publication date: 08/18/2020
Series: Library of Living Philosophers , #36
Pages: 908

The Philosophy of Julia Kristeva is the latest addition to the highly acclaimed series, The Library of Living Philosophers. The book epitomizes the objectives of this acclaimed series; it contains critical interpretation of one of the greatest philosophers of our time, and pursues more creative regional and world dialogue on philosophical questions. The format provides a detailed interaction between those who interpret and critique Kristeva’s work and the seminal thinker herself, giving broad coverage, from diverse viewpoints, of all the major topics establishing her reputation. With questions directed to the philosopher while they are alive, the volumes in The Library of Living Philosophers have come to occupy a uniquely significant place in the realm of philosophy. The inclusion of Julia Kristeva constitutes a vital addition to an already robust list of thinkers.

The Philosophy of Julia Kristeva exemplifies world-class intellectual work closely connected to the public sphere. Kristeva has been said to have “inherited the intellectual throne left vacant by Simone de Beauvoir,” and has won many awards, including the Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thought.

Julia Kristeva’s autobiography provides an excellent introduction to her work, situating it in relation to major political, intellectual, and cultural movements of the time. Her upbringing in Soviet-dominated Bulgaria, her move to the French intellectual landscape of the 1960s, her visit to Mao’s China, her response to the fall of the Berlin Wall, her participation in a papal summit on humanism, her appointment by President Chirac as President of the National Council on Disability, and her setting up of the Simone de Beauvoir prize, honoring women in active and creative fields, are all major moments of this fascinating life. The major part of the book is comprised of thirty-six essays by Kristeva’s foremost interpreters and critics, together with her replies to the essays. These encounters cover an exceptionally wide range of theoretical and literary writing. The strong international and multidisciplinary focus includes authors from over ten countries, and spans the fields of philosophy, semiotics, literature, psychoanalysis, feminist thought, political theory, art, and religion. The comprehensive bibliography provides further access to Kristeva’s writings and thought.

The preparation of this volume, the thirty-sixth in the series, was supported by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Sara G. Beardsworth is Associate Professor and Editor of the Library of Living Philosophers, Department of Philosophy, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. She is the author of Julia Kristeva: Psychoanalysis and Modernity and co-editor of The Philosophy of Umberto Eco.