The Jean Baudrillard Reader (European Perspectives: A Series in Social Thought and Cultural Criticism)

About this book

Jean Baudrillard (1929-2007) was a controversial social and cultural theorist known for his trenchant analyses of media and technological communication. Belonging to the generation of French thinkers that included Gilles Deleuze Jean-Franois Lyotard Michel Foucault and Jacques Lacan Baudrillard has at times been vilified by his detractors but the influence of his work on critical thought and pop culture is impossible to deny (many might recognize his name from The Matrix movies which claimed to be based on the French theorists ideas). Steve Redhead takes a fresh look at Baudrillard in relation to the intellectual and political climates in which he wrote. Baudrillard sought to produce a theory of modernity but the modern world of the 1950s was radically different from the reality of the early twenty-first century. Beginning with Baudrillards initial publications in the 1960s and concluding with his writings on 9/11 and Abu Ghraib Redhead guides the reader through Baudrillards difficult texts and unorthodox views on current issues. He also proposes an original theory of Baudrillards relation to postmodernism presenting the theorists work as "non-postmodernist " after Bruno Latours concept of "non-modernity." Each section of the Reader includes an extract from one of Baudrillards writings prefaced by a short bibliographical introduction that places the piece in context and puts the debate surrounding the theorist into sharp perspective. The conflict over Baudrillards legacy stems largely from the fact that a comprehensive selection of his writings has yet to be translated and collected into one volume. The Jean Baudrillard Reader provides an expansive and much-needed portrait of the critics resonant work.