Joseph de Maistre's Life, Thought, and Influence: Selected Studies

by Richard A. Lebrun

Joseph de Maistre (1753B1821) was an extraordinarily gifted and insightful commentator on foundational developments that have shaped our modern world. His reaction to the Enlightenment and the French Revolution, though hostile, was remarkably open and included innovative and still-valuable theorizing about such human phenomena as violence and unreason. The political and theoretical issues he addressed continue to challenge us today. In Joseph de Maistre's Life, Thought, and Influence leading Maistre scholars offer interpretations of his thought and make available in English recent French scholarship on his life and work. They provide a portrait of Maistre as a significant thinker in numerous fields, upsetting the image of him as a backward-looking "reactionary," a reinterpretation furthered by contemporary interest in Counter-Enlightenment thought in general. Joseph de Maistre's Life, Thought, and Influence is a valuable resource, providing not only a cross-section of current Maistre scholarship but also notes and biographical suggestions for further study. Contributors include Owen Bradley (University of Tennessee), Jean-Louis Darcel (Université de Savoie), Jean Dinezet (former OECD director-general), Graeme Garrard (University of Wales), Richard A. Lebrun, Vera Miltchyna (Writer's Union, Moscow), Jean-Yves Pranchère (independent scholar), W. Jay Reedy (Bryant College), and Benjamin Thurston (D.Phil. candidate, Oxford).

Genres: Politics, Philosophy

344 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2001

Reviews

[M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic! Approaches so many different perspectives, huge breadth of top quality scholarship. I found "Maistre's Theory of Sacrifice," "Joseph de Maistre in Russia: A Look at the Reception of his Work," "The Persistence of Maistrian Thought," and perhaps "Joseph de Maistre, New Mentor of the Prince: Unveiling the Mysteries of Political Science" the most interesting. Absolutely the best one could hope for out of such a book. More than I was expecting.