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21st out of 234 books
—
82 voters
Selections from the Prison Notebooks of Antonio Gramsci
An extensive anthology, including his most important writings while in prison on philosophy, history, Communist Party formation, the intellectuals, and other subjects.
Paperback, 572 pages
Published
June 24th 1971
by International Publishers
(first published January 1st 1971)
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I decided to read this book in order to presenting a simple essay for "Critical Theory" subject at my university. Gramsci was a Neo-Marxist, he writes all the essay when he was at prison. In the beginning of chapter you will see Gramsci's brief biography. The translator nicely tells us the history and background of Gramsci's writing.
Gramsci notable work was his theory about "Hegemony", but you will never found a chapter about hegemony itself. He was spread the hegemony words in every single pag...more
Gramsci notable work was his theory about "Hegemony", but you will never found a chapter about hegemony itself. He was spread the hegemony words in every single pag...more
What's strange about Gramsci is the way he works within a very Marxist-theory framework (discussion of whether or not Americanism can constitute a historical epoch, for instance) but whole huge sections of work draw conclusions about the nature of fascism and Italian history are by no means explicitly Marxist. I suppose that's what's so appealing about all the more liberatory, less orthodox, less deterministic Marxist thinkers.
The cultural turn is wonderful, and his criticism of "common sense" i...more
The cultural turn is wonderful, and his criticism of "common sense" i...more
Jun 24, 2007
Adi Onggoboyo
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Semua aktivis, politikus, ilmuwan, para pemikir
Shelves:
bukuserius
Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937) adalah seorang intelektual berkebangsaan Italia yang dipenjarakan selama 10 tahun oleh rezim fasis Mussolini. "Kita harus menghentikan otak ini untuk bekerja selama 20 tahun” demikian ujar jaksa pada saat pengadilan terhadapnya (Wikipedia). Yang terjadi justru sebaliknya, saat-saat pemenjaraan itulah ia kemudian melahirkan karya besarnya yang dirangkum dalam sebuah buku The Prison Notebooks. Kolakowski menyebutnya sebagai teoritikus politik paling orisinil sesudah Len...more
Jul 14, 2007
Ethan
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Those familiar with basic Marxist principles, who want to know "so what's the hold up?"
Shelves:
political-economy
This was written from the Regina Coeli prison in Rome 1926, where Gramsci and sent by Mussolini's fascist intellectual purge. The prosecutor who recommended his detention said of Gramsci "we must, for twenty years, stop this brain from functioning".
Needless to say this was not successful. Prison illuminated Gramsci's analysis of the intellectuals' role in the state and revolution, the rationale of materialsim, and most importantly how the predictions of collapse made by Classical Marxism had no...more
Needless to say this was not successful. Prison illuminated Gramsci's analysis of the intellectuals' role in the state and revolution, the rationale of materialsim, and most importantly how the predictions of collapse made by Classical Marxism had no...more
Say no more: the most important book of theory for anyone who considers herself a materialist and influenced by British Cultural Studies. I assign my graduate students selections from him regularly to keep myself well-versed in a mind, according to Mussolini, that was too dangerous not to be imprisoned.
Jul 15, 2010
David
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Loselo Segwe
Recommended to David by:
David Webster
Gramsci was one of the most important, original and influential marxist writers of the 20th Century. He wrote extensively on the role of intellectuals, on education, history, politics, culture, the modern state and philosophy. The Prison Notebooks was written between 1929 and 1935, when Gramsci was a prisoner of the Italian fascist state under Mussolini. He developed the concept of 'hegemony', arguing that the ruling class sustained its control of society and the state through hegemonic dominati...more
Dense and hard to follow, but Gramsci's insights into the nature and power of hegemony are invaluable. If you've ever scratched your head and wondered why the poor vote for the interests of the rich, this is the book for you...if you can unpack it.
Reading this today for my orals exam. Not understanding it at all and don't have the energy to try harder. I think I'm just going to hope that no one asks me questions about this one...
It is in this collection that Gramsci articulates his theory of hegemony. Everybody should read it. It's one of the few books that will make you smarter once you finish it.
This book helped me graduate, so I maybe biased. For those who have a passion for the topic, it's a great book. For those who don't, it can bore you.
A more complicated thinker than I knew. Shades of fascism and feminism. Can't figure him out but don't have much time or interest to go further.
Aug 23, 2012
William West
added it
Here's a link to my article on Gramsci:
http://www.pslweb.org/liberationnews/...
http://www.pslweb.org/liberationnews/...
one of the more influential books i have read in my life, Gramsci's work was a very big part of my grad school years as i found his theory of hegemony very key in my understanding and research in mass communications, one of my favorite research papers involved the examination of television talk shows (ala Rikki Lake, Jerry Springer, the trashy sorts) within the framework of Gramsci's concept of hegemony. highly recommended reading, this book is no easy read, prepare yourself by refreshing on bas...more
Heroic, in thought and action (reading his biography, I cried). A bold brakeout from orthodox Marxism
Confusing and fragmented - and not in an artistic way. Nonetheless, Gramsci is the grand-daddy of hegemony and marxist praxis.
The sense of achievement after finishing this is similar to that of finishing Capital...it is massive and, given its fractured nature, I'd say even more challenging. Gramsci is so often referenced, however, I took many of his ideas rather for granted. After reading him for myself, I'd say there is more of interest here, and more that I find problematic than I'd ever expected...and is definitely a book to think over and pick up again. Hegemony and common sense, political struggle, popular educati...more
Difficult reading but well worth the effort.
mmm i want that book...
A work of sheer brilliance...
Aug 11, 2010
Adfitz
is currently reading it
Rereading...
The section on "passive revolution" in, I believe, "Notes on Italian History" has been applied to modern Indian history by Partha Chatterjee, Sudipta Kaviraj, etc. You might want to start with them and work backwards as I did to Gramsci, but it's well worth reading as are his writings on intellectuals and "The New Prince." Crude and imprecise summary: It's Marxism with an emphasis on the role of ideas and the intricacies of how movements work.
at first it can be a bit tricky to navigate past the really specific italian communist context of much of this, and of course the inherent nature of scraps of ideas smuggled out of a prison cell doesn't make it any easier, but the flushing out of the idea of hegemony is pretty essential, and his stuff on the theater should give us all a heavy clue on how to examine our various cultural institutions.
Italian marxist, predecessor to cultural studies. An invaluable conceptualization of hegemony. One of my favorite quotes of all time - we have to create an inventory of all the traces historical processes have left upon us in order to begin critical elaboration to understand ourselves and the world
Wasn't quite ready for the density of Gramsci's Prison Notebooks. I'll stick to reading infoshop articles for the time being. This will definitely be a good historically central text to return to one day, once my reading in Anarchism has expanded a little more elsewhere.
This book is so inspirational. But,once,when I read it, i got sleepy because the story of Gramsci from Coeli to another parts of Italy made me so puzzled.But, when we did skim-reading,we'd find the importance of this book. Viva organic intellectual !
The Italian fascist regime wanted to shut down Gramsci's brain when they imprisoned him. They failed.
Politically insightful; useful insights on class, capitalism, colonialism, national and cultural identity, nationalism.
Although hard to read, Gramsci rewards the diligent reader with engaging insights in this tome.
I have only read selections from this text. I suggest "The Intellectuals."
Good discussion of cultural (i.e. Western) hegemony among other things.
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Antonio Gramsci was an Italian writer, politician, political theorist, linguist and philosopher. A founding member and onetime leader of the Communist Party of Italy, he was imprisoned by Benito Mussolini's Fascist regime. His writings are heavily concerned with the analysis of culture and political leadership and he is notable as a highly original thinker within the Marxist tradition. He is renow...more
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“The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born”
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“All men are intellectuals, but not all men have in society the function of intellectuals”
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May 31, 2010 07:31pm