Figuras de la historia

by Jacques Rancière

Rancière reflexiona con ingenio y lucidez sobre la representación de la historia en el cine y en la pintura. De Alexander Medvedkin a Chris Marker, de Humphrey Jennings a Claude Lanzmann, y también de Goya a Manet, de Kandinsky a Barnett Newman o de Kurt Schwitters a Larry Rivers, el arte se ha cuestionado cómo retratar con éxito los acontecimientos que atraviesan toda una época. Pero preguntarse sobre la manera en que los artistas recortan el mundo sensible, aíslan o redistribuyen sus elementos, para Rancière es preguntarse por el corazón político de cualquier esfuerzo artístico. Y desde ese lugar analiza las diversas “historias”: la historia como colección de ejemplos, la de los “hechos” o documental, aquella “hecha con las huellas que nadie había elegido como tales, con los testimonios mudos de la vida ordinaria”; “historias” que se unen o se desunen, se oponen o se entrelazan, volviendo a disponer de diferentes maneras las relaciones entre los géneros pictóricos y los poderes de la figuración. Para Rancière no hay imagen que no pueda reabrir el debate sobre las escenas que la historia oficial decía haber fijado de una vez por todas.

Genres: Philosophy, Theory, History, France

Unknown Binding

First published August 1, 2012

About the author

Jacques Rancière (born Algiers, 1940) is a French philosopher and Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Paris (St. Denis) who came to prominence when he co-authored Reading Capital (1968), with the Marxist philosopher Louis Althusser.

Rancière contributed to the influential volume Reading "Capital" (though his contribution is not contained in the partial English translation) before publicly breaking with Althusser over his attitude toward the May 1968 student uprising in Paris.
Since then, Rancière has departed from the path set by his teacher and published a series of works probing the concepts that make up our understanding of political discourse. What is ideology? What is the proletariat? Is there a working class? And how do these masses of workers that thinkers like Althusser referred to continuously enter into a relationship with knowledge? We talk about them but what do we know? An example of this line of thinking is Rancière's book entitled Le philosophe et ses pauvres (The Philosopher and His Poor, 1983), a book about the role of the poor in the intellectual lives of philosophers.

Most recently Rancière has written on the topic of human rights and specifically the role of international human rights organizations in asserting the authority to determine which groups of people — again the problem of masses — justify human rights interventions, and even war.

In 2006, it was reported that Rancière's aesthetic theory had become a point of reference in the visual arts, and Rancière has lectured at such art world events as the Freize Art Fair. Former French presidential candidate Ségolène Royal has cited Rancière as her favourite philosopher.

Reviews

[Sarvin · Rating 2 out of 5]

نفهمیدمش.

[joaovilnei · Rating 1 out of 5]

Entendi nada. Uma estrela pra mim

[Martin Lund · Rating 2 out of 5]

The back cover makes the book sound more interesting than it is. It has some interesting ideas, but is too sweeping and florid in its language to make them stick for me. I was excited to read about what is said and how that relates to what is sayable in different times and places, but I feel none the wiser on the subject after reading this.

[Braden Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read the entire book in 45 minutes. Excellent consolidation of material, however, many of the ideas have been circulating for quite some time. Nevertheless, there is only one Rancière who can deliver like this.

[Euge Maffeo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Me aburrí.