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Prison Notebooks
Columbia University Press's multivolume Prison Notebooks is the only complete critical edition of Antonio Gramsci's seminal writings in English. Based on the authoritative Italian edition of Gramsci's work, Quaderni del Carcere, this comprehensive translation presents the intellectual as he ought to be read and understood, with critical notes that clarify Gramsci's history, culture, and sources; an index of names; and a contextualization of the thinker's ideas against his earlier writings and letters. This set includes notebooks 1 through 8 with all attendant notes and materials and is an indispensible resource for scholars in the humanities and social sciences.
2032 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1947
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About the author
Antonio Gramsci
565 books999 followersAntonio Francesco Gramsci was an Italian Marxist philosopher, linguist, journalist, writer, and politician. He wrote on philosophy, political theory, sociology, history, and linguistics. He was a founding member and one-time leader of the Italian Communist Party. A vocal critic of Benito Mussolini and fascism, he was imprisoned in 1926, where he remained until his death in 1937.
During his imprisonment, Gramsci wrote more than 30 notebooks and 3,000 pages of history and analysis. His Prison Notebooks are considered a highly original contribution to 20th-century political theory. Gramsci drew insights from varying sources — not only other Marxists but also thinkers such as Niccolò Machiavelli, Vilfredo Pareto, Georges Sorel, and Benedetto Croce. The notebooks cover a wide range of topics, including the history of Italy and Italian nationalism, the French Revolution, fascism, Taylorism and Fordism, civil society, the state, historical materialism, folklore, religion, and high and popular culture.
Gramsci is best known for his theory of cultural hegemony, which describes how the state and ruling capitalist class — the bourgeoisie — use cultural institutions to maintain wealth and power in capitalist societies. In Gramsci's view, the bourgeoisie develops a hegemonic culture using ideology rather than violence, economic force, or coercion. He also attempted to break from the economic determinism of orthodox Marxist thought, and so is sometimes described as a neo-Marxist. He held a humanistic understanding of Marxism, seeing it as a philosophy of praxis and an absolute historicism that transcends traditional materialism and traditional idealism.
During his imprisonment, Gramsci wrote more than 30 notebooks and 3,000 pages of history and analysis. His Prison Notebooks are considered a highly original contribution to 20th-century political theory. Gramsci drew insights from varying sources — not only other Marxists but also thinkers such as Niccolò Machiavelli, Vilfredo Pareto, Georges Sorel, and Benedetto Croce. The notebooks cover a wide range of topics, including the history of Italy and Italian nationalism, the French Revolution, fascism, Taylorism and Fordism, civil society, the state, historical materialism, folklore, religion, and high and popular culture.
Gramsci is best known for his theory of cultural hegemony, which describes how the state and ruling capitalist class — the bourgeoisie — use cultural institutions to maintain wealth and power in capitalist societies. In Gramsci's view, the bourgeoisie develops a hegemonic culture using ideology rather than violence, economic force, or coercion. He also attempted to break from the economic determinism of orthodox Marxist thought, and so is sometimes described as a neo-Marxist. He held a humanistic understanding of Marxism, seeing it as a philosophy of praxis and an absolute historicism that transcends traditional materialism and traditional idealism.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
Want to read
January 24, 2015I browsed these lovely 3 volumes in the store last evening as a winter storm was gathering- does anyone have anything to say re: are these big things worth my time? They look so enchanting...
December 4, 2017
For those seriously studying Gramsci. Mot o the best parts can be found in the shorter 'Gramsci Reader.' The rest go into great detail about political and intellectual Italian history, and you can find a few more gems. This aspect inspired me to study American history and culture as seriously as Gramsci studies his in Italy.
Want to read
March 4, 2011I plan to spend much of the Spring and most of the summer of 2011 studying these volumes.
March 15, 2014
زندگی یک مبارز واقعی در زندان که سعی داره با مکاتبه ارتباطش رو با دنیای بیرون، با مادر، برادر، دوست، همسر و کودکانش حفظ کنه...با خوندن این کتاب تونستم ذره ای با مبارزین زندانی همذات پنداری داشته باشم و احساسشون رو نسبت به بیرون و آدماش حس کنم...
to-keep-reference
October 18, 2016Más de cien años después, la noción de lo nacional-popular de Antonio Gramsci fue concebida comoparte de un esfuerzo para recuperar la operación de clase hegemónica al servicio del proletariado. Para Gramsci, los nacional-popular es la rúbrica bajo la cual los intelectuales podrían unirse con el pueblo, y por ello, un recurso poderoso para la construcción de una hegemonía popular.
Imperio Pág. 83
Discutido también en Gramsci para principiantes.
Imperio Pág. 83
Discutido también en Gramsci para principiantes.
May 19, 2016
I read all three volumes and I don't regret a single second I spent reading Gramsci. This edition promised to be one of the best foreign language versions of the Notebooks (in addition to Italian, complete translations are available in French, German, Spanish). It's a pity it ground to a halt after Notebook 8.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews