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Aesthetic Ideology
An important reconsideration of ideology by one of this century’s most eminent theorists.
Offers the definitive resource to de Man's thoughts on philosophy, politics, and history. The texts collected here were written or delivered as lectures during the last years of de Man's life, between 1977 and 1983. Many of them have never been available previously in any form.
Offers the definitive resource to de Man's thoughts on philosophy, politics, and history. The texts collected here were written or delivered as lectures during the last years of de Man's life, between 1977 and 1983. Many of them have never been available previously in any form.
208 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
About the author
Paul De Man
40 books66 followersPaul de Man was a Belgian-born deconstructionist literary critic and theorist.
He began teaching at Bard College. Later, he completed his Ph.D. at Harvard University in the late 1950s. He then taught at Cornell University, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Zurich, before ending up on the faculty in French and Comparative Literature at Yale University, where he was considered part of the Yale School of deconstruction.
At the time of his death from cancer, he was Sterling Professor of the Humanities at Yale. After his death, the discovery of some two hundred articles he wrote during World War II for collaborationist newspapers, including one explicitly anti-Semitic, caused a scandal and provoked a reconsideration of his life and work. De Man oversaw the dissertations of both Gayatri Spivak and Barbara Johnson.
He began teaching at Bard College. Later, he completed his Ph.D. at Harvard University in the late 1950s. He then taught at Cornell University, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Zurich, before ending up on the faculty in French and Comparative Literature at Yale University, where he was considered part of the Yale School of deconstruction.
At the time of his death from cancer, he was Sterling Professor of the Humanities at Yale. After his death, the discovery of some two hundred articles he wrote during World War II for collaborationist newspapers, including one explicitly anti-Semitic, caused a scandal and provoked a reconsideration of his life and work. De Man oversaw the dissertations of both Gayatri Spivak and Barbara Johnson.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 7, 2021
This collection contains eight of de Man's essays on aesthetics in which he mainly ponders the work of other thinkers, such as Kant, Hegel (it's always interesting to ponder the concept of "das Erhabene", which apparently translates as "the sublime"), Derrida and his reading of Rousseau, as well as Shelley. I consulted the volume to grapple with "Autobiography as De-facement", a text that tries to find a position within the theoretical cosmos of Lejeune and Doubrovsky, a task I'm currently taking on as well.
For a theorist, de Man is shockingly readable, but I wouldn't start with this one and recommend consulting his writing on literary criticism.
For a theorist, de Man is shockingly readable, but I wouldn't start with this one and recommend consulting his writing on literary criticism.
November 29, 2013
Oh, this man can write. And read
December 12, 2025
Helping me make the movie
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews