Bloodrites of the Post-Structuralists: Word, Flesh and Revolution

by Anne Norton

How do you write history when it's no longer linear? In Bloodrites of the Post-Structuralists , respected political theorist Anne Norton reminds us of the real interplay between words (laws, scriptures, myths, and texts), and the world of flesh. Drawing from sources as diverse as foundational myths from Sarah in the bible, Marat in his death bath, and thinkers like Hegel and Foucault, Norton reinterprets the relationship between word and flesh and places it in historical context. The French and English Revolutions, as well as the period of anti-colonialism and post-colonialism are used to frame her discussion of word and body, and their historical significance.

216 pages, Paperback

First published October 18, 2002

Reviews

[Devin Creed · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was quite a trip, one that I do not want to take again.

[Liquidlasagna · Rating 1 out of 5]

my fave cra-zee writer of the month!

reviews from elsewhere land

This was quite a trip, one that I do not want to take again.
Mister X on Goodreads

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How do words and flesh interweave in the politics of race, sex, kinship, war and revolution?

It takes a superb stylist and a passionate intellectual to render such complex relations palpable. That is exactly what occurs in Bloodrites of the Post-Structuralists.

Anne Norton infuses us with joy, horror, disgust and desire, even as she shows us how those passions saturate politics.

A provocative study that lingers in the flesh after you put it down.

William E. Connolly, Johns Hopkins University

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Contemplating revolution, colonialism and male dominance through the intertwining of the word, the eye, and the (sexed, sexual, and raced) body, Norton has penned a poetics of modern political power at once brilliant, devastating, and sublime.

Wendy Brown, University of California, Berkeley

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Videodrome

Max Renn: Do you know a book called 'Bloodrites of the Post-Structuralists'?
Masha: what?
Max Renn:Bloodrites of the Post-Structuralists. Like post-structuralists, blood. Do you know it?
Masha: No.
Max Renn: It's just torture and murder. No plot, no characters. Very, very realistic. I think it's what's next.
Masha: Then God help us.

Long live the new flesh!