Newmag Presents Alain Badiou’s Thrilling “The Century” Philosophical Book (trailer in Armenian)
Newmag translated and published Alain Badiou’s “The Century” book. Translator of the book is Nazeni Gharibyan. The Armenian version of the book is published in the scope of the “Calouste Gulbenkian Translation Series” program. Alain Badiou is a French phi
The most famous French thinker of his generation is convinced that philosophy should speak for its time. The thirteen chapters of the book are presented as lessons derived from a seminar Badiou gave at the College International de Philosophie between 1998-2001. In the first page of the book Badiou raises a question - what is a century? “How many years is a century, what is a hundred years, what is a thousand years, if one moment can erase them? So let's ask, what is the unique moment that erases the 20th century? The fall of the Berlin Wall, the division of the genome, the launch of the Euro?”
Badiou discusses the most intriguing questions and issues of the century from his unique prism of analysis. He talks about all the challenges, victories and crimes of the 20th century. Badiou's analysis of the 20th century is drawn from his unique encounter with 20th century poetry and theater, literary theory, totalitarianism, and the search for meaningful narratives that are neither logical nor dialectical. All the book chapters also have interesting parallels with the ideas of the biggest thinkers and philosophers of the millennium - Mandelstam, Malarme, Hegel, Brecht, Foucault.
Badiou’s book will help the reader to get a deeper understanding on how to face the challenges of the century․ After all, people change every time, while the roles remain the same. Reaching the fourth year of the 21st century, Badiou notes that this century marks the return of human rights and religion. The Marxist philosopher touches upon the problems of the 20th century, tries to formulate what characterizes the 20th century in general. What are the political directions that do not fade even after the end of the communist utopia?
The book is published in the scope of the “Calouste Gulbenkian Translation Series” program. The program was launched in 2015. The main goal is to publish Armenian translations of the most influential academic pieces. This series has chosen 10 books, four of them are French authors.
● The TV presentation of the book will be held on July 30, in the scope of the “Good Morning” program of Armenia TV.
● The presentation of the book will be held on July 30, in the scope of Yerevan Book Fest.
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