Jean-François Lyotard: Libidinal Economy (1974/1993)

Libidinal Economy, a major work of modern Continental philosophy in its own right, is regarded as the most important response to Deleuze and Guattari’s groundbreaking work. Having broken from Marxism, Lyotard presents an almost nihilistic attack on the philosophies of desire in a polemical and compelling work.

This philosophical development of the Freudian concept of ‘libidinal economy’ is in part a response to Deleuze and Guattari’s Anti-Oedipus, it can also be seen as culminating a line of modern thought ranging from de Sade, Nietzsche and Bataille, to Deleuze, Klossowski, Irigaray and Cixous.

First published as Economie Libidinale, Les Editions De Minuit, Paris, 1974
Translated and with Introduction by Ian Hamilton Grant
Publisher Indiana University Press, 1993
ISBN 0253207282, 9780253207289
275 pages

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Philippe Pignarre, Isabelle Stengers: Capitalist Sorcery: Breaking the Spell (2005–) [FR, EN]

“If denunciation were effective, capitalism would have disappeared a long time ago. But denunciation is never enough. Capitalism is a system that reinvents itself permanently, through the creation of infernal alternatives, alternatives which take us all hostage: ‘if we don’t cut the deficit, we’ll never regain our competitiveness’.

In other traditions than that of the moderns, this sort of paralysis would be described as sorcery. Capitalist Sorcery takes this idea seriously – literally – and explores the consequences of our vulnerability to a system which daily recruits the minions that it needs to cast its spells.

Proposing a pragmatic reading of Marx, a reading which seeks to ward off the thoughtlessness encouraged by the theme of progress and the resignation that arises from accepting that capitalism is the ‘only game in town’, the authors look at how we can protect ourselves from the logic which – from financial collapse through GM foods to oil spills and climate catastrophe – runs scared of the cry ‘another world is possible’.”

La sorcellerie capitaliste: Pratiques de désenvoûtement
Afterword by Anne Vièle
Publisher La Découverte, Paris, 2005
ISBN 2707143979
228 pages

English edition
Translated and edited by Andrew Goffey
Publisher Palgrave Macmillan, 2011
ISBN 0230237622, 9780230237629
224 pages

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La sorcellerie capitaliste (French, 2005)
Capitalist Sorcery (English, 2011)

Gary Genosko (ed.): The Guattari Reader (1996)

Félix Guattari (1930-1992) was a radical analyst, social theorist and activist-intellectual. Best known for his collaborations with the philosopher Gilles Deleuze on Anti-Oedipus, A Thousand Plateaus and What is Philosophy?, The Guattari Reader makes available for the first time the broad canvas of Guattari’s formidable theoretical and activist writings, many previously untranslated, to provide an indispensable companion to the existing literature.Aside from illustrating the salience of Guattari’s collaborative work with Deleuze and other European intellectuals, this volume charts Guattari’s own solo writing career – from his tenure as Lacan’s analysand in the 1950s and his prominent role in the international anti-psychiatry movement of the 1960s through his participation in queer politics, outlaw radio, and the formation of subversive collective organizations. This volume provides an important register of Guattari’s more political side, documenting his interventions in particular political conflicts in contemporary Europe. Guattari’s ideas and projects defy disciplinary boundaries and escape compartmentalization. They will appeal to those working in and between politics, philosophy, semiotics, psychoanalysis, sociology, and cultural studies.

Publisher Blackwell Publishers, 1996
ISBN 0631197079, 9780631197072
304 pages

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