Libidinal Economy

Lyotard is considered one of the most brilliant and influential of French post-structuralist thinkers. Published in 1974 by Minuit, Économie libidinale is, of all his work to date, the most creative in its mode of writing and in its theorizing: a stunning, dense, brilliant piece in which Lyotard, ranging from Marxist and Freudian theory to contemporary arts, argues that political economy is charged with passions and, reciprocally, that passions are infused with the political.

JEAN-FRANÇOIS LYOTARD, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Paris VIII and Professor at the University of California, Irvine, is author of numerous books, including The Differend: Phrases in Dispute, Heidegger and "the Jews", and The Post-Modern Condition. IAIN HAMILTON GRANT is in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Warwick.