Author talk by Aymeric Monville and Gabriel Rockhill, co-authors of 'Requiem for French Theory', on postmodernism, fascism and socialism, with Jennifer Ponce de León.
Aymeric Monville and Gabriel Rockhill are coming to the Parkway Central Library on Saturday, October 24, to talk about their new book, Requiem for French Theory. The talk is hosted by the library's Education, Philosophy, and Religion Department, and they'll be joined by Jennifer Ponce de León, an associate professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania. Ponce de León is more than just a moderator here—she facilitated the dialogue between Monville and Rockhill throughout the writing of Requiem, so she's been inside the conversation from the start.
The book itself takes on some heavy lifting. Monville and Rockhill look at the effects of postmodernism on both theory and practice, the rise of fascism, and the struggle for socialism in the 21st century. It's the kind of project that connects high-level academic theory to the political shifts we're seeing on the ground, and having the authors here in person means you can hear them walk through those connections rather than just reading them on the page.
There's a bit more to the timing, too. The English translation of Monville's The Poverty of Left Nietzscheanism is due out on October 16, so by the time this talk happens, both books will be available to read. If you've been following the debate around postmodernism and its fallout, this is a good chance to see where these two are landing.
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The talk runs from 2:30 PM to 4:00 PM on Saturday, October 24, at the Education, Philosophy, and Religion Department inside the Parkway Central Library, 1901 Vine Street. It's a ninety-minute session, so there should be plenty of room for the authors to lay out their arguments and for the conversation with Ponce de León to open things up.
