Badiou's Being and Event: A Reader's Guide

by Christopher Norris

Alain Badiou's Being and Event is the most original and significant work of French philosophy to have appeared in recent decades. It is the magnum opus of a thinker who is widely considered to have re-shaped the character and set new terms for the future development of philosophy in France and elsewhere. This book has been written very much with a view to clarifying Badiou's complex and demanding work for non-specialist readers. It offers guidance on philosophical and intellectual context, key themes, reading the text, reception and influence; and further reading.

Genres: Philosophy

327 pages, Paperback

First published May 24, 2009

About the author

Christopher Norris is a British philosopher, literary critic, and scholar of deconstruction known for work on Jacques Derrida, continental philosophy, literary theory, and philosophy of science. After completing a doctorate in English at University College London, he pursued criticism and academic teaching before joining Cardiff University in 1991. He later became Distinguished Research Professor in the Cardiff School of English, Communication and Philosophy. Norris has also held visiting appointments at Berkeley, Dartmouth College, Aarhus University, and the City University of New York.

Reviews

[C · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just read Badiou directly, this book is just as abstract and abstruse, and so in no way helpful as a guide.

[Sterling Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really clear and helpful guide for getting into Badiou's "Being and Event". Norris' ability to situate Badiou's work alongside those of his contemporaries - in both the 'Analytic' and 'Continental' camps - really helps one get into the meat of the text.

I only have two minor complaints: (1) the editing on this book was horrible and (2) Norris spends too much time valorizing Badiou in the book. To the former, there were numerous instances where things were spelled wrong and the formatting was off, oftentimes multiple times in a single paragraph. It was like reading a badly rendered .pdf on a e-book reader or something. It was honestly atrocious, and highly distracting. To the latter: it's justified to try and make a case for the relevance and importance of an author when writing a book like this, but there shouldn't be long and nearly constant diatribes about how Badiou really separates himself from the common opinions of current philosophers. Such a tactic can be helpful as long as it helps situate the text, but oftentimes it just came across as an extended celebration of the 'glory' of Badiou's work.

Still, even with those things in mind, this was a vastly helpful book.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a decent enough guide to Being and Event. It has some flaws: it's a bit repetitive at times and some of the discussion of set theory seems a bit imprecise, but overall you get a good sense of what Badiou is up to and it's easy enough to read.