Psychoanalysis, Aesthetics, and Politics in the Work of Kristeva

The social and political relevance of Julia Kristeva’s work is perhaps the central question in Kristeva studies, and the essays in this collection provide a sustained interrogation of this complicated problematic from a variety of perspectives and across the various contexts and moments of Kristeva’s forty-year writing career. Presenting Kristeva’s thought as the sustained interrogation of a political problematic, the contributors argue that her use of psychoanalysis and aesthetics offers significant insight into social and political issues that would otherwise remain concealed. The collection addresses the entirety of Kristeva’s oeuvre, from her earliest work on poetic language to her most recent work on female genius, and it includes two previously untranslated essays by Kristeva, as well as original contributions from scholars working in several countries and a variety of disciplines.

Kelly Oliver is W. Alton Jones Chair of Philosophy and Professor of Women's Studies at Vanderbilt University. Her previous books include Language and Liberation: Feminism, Philosophy, and Language and Living Attention: On Teresa Brennan, both also published by Suny Press, along with Reading Kristeva: Unraveling the Double-bind and The Portable Kristeva. S.K. Keltner is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Kennesaw State University.