In _Althusser, The Infinite Farewell_—originally published in Spanish and appearing here in English for the first time—Emilio de Ípola contends that Althusser’s oeuvre is divided between two fundamentally different and at times contradictory projects. The first is the familiar Althusser, that of _For Marx_ and _Reading Capital_. Symptomatically reading these canonical texts alongside Althusser’s lesser-known writings, de Ípola reveals a second, subterranean current of thought that flows throughout Althusser’s classic formulations and which only gains explicit expression in his later works. (...) This subterranean current leads Althusser to move toward an aleatory materialism, or a materialism of the encounter. By explicating this key aspect of Althusser’s theoretical practice, de Ípola revitalizes classic debates concerning major theoretico-political topics, including the relationship between Marxism, structuralism, and psychoanalysis; the difference between ideology, philosophy, and science; and the role of contingency and subjectivity in political encounters and social transformation. In so doing, he underscores Althusser’s continuing importance to political theory and Marxist and post-Marxist thought. (shrink)

Bits and pieces of a fragile, fragmented discourse. Messages that traveled from cell to cell, cellblock to cellblock, even from one prison to another. Scrupulously and copiously analyzed, discussed and, on occasion, transformed during recreation periods and family visits, they were capable of inspiring both hope and fear, depending on the circumstances. But most importantly they were vehicles - spontaneous, improvised vehicles - for combating misinformation and uncertainty. Political prisoners had a name for them: bembas. Often the sole topic of (...) conversation and argument among political prisoners, bembas always elicited a broad array of opinions and reactions: skepticism, blind faith, humor, meticulous examination, scorn and, most often, expectant, painstaking analysis. (shrink)