The Tel Quel Reader [Anglais] [Broché]

Excerpted from the French journal Tel Quel (1960-82) and ably translated by two lecturers in French at University College, London, these articles demonstrate French poststructuralist radical literary theory as practiced in France during the 1960s and 1970s by some of its major proponents, e.g., Julia Kristeva, Michel Foucault, Philippe Sollers, Marc Devade, Marcelin Pleynet, and Roland Barthes. The articles explore literature and culture, gender, film, semiotics, and psychoanalysis. Critics have detected a progressive movement in the journal itself from literature tel quel, "such as it is," toward the avant-garde and toward a scientific analysis of literature. The translators group the articles under three major headings?Science, Literature, and Art?but several of the articles defy this classification. Marcel Pleynet's article, "Thetic `Madness,' " for example, deals primarily with religion as it relates to art. This reader will prove extremely valuable to structuralist and post-structuralist literature scholars but will have little appeal to broader audiences.?Robert T. Ivey, Univ. of Memphis
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

"This collection includes the most important essays and gives an excellent picture of Tel Quel's work and evolution over time."

"...stimulating and enjoyable collection."

The Tel Quel Reader presents for the first time in English many of the key essays that played an instrumental role in shaping the contours of literary and cultural debate in the 1960s and 1970s. Tel Quel was a French journal and publishing team that printed some of the earliest work by Derrida, Bataille, Kristeva, Barthes, Foucault and Deleuze. The Reader includes essays available in English for the first time by Kristeva and Foucault, and a fascinating interview with Barthes. It provides a unique insight into the poststructuralist movement by presenting some of the pioneering essays on literature and culture, gender, film, semiotics and psychoanalysis.

The work of the French literary review, intellectual grouping, and publishing team Tel Quel had a profound impact on literary and cultural debate in the 1960s and '70s. THE TEL QUEL READER presents, for the first time in English, many of the key essays written by the Tel Quel group. The collection filled a much-needed gap in the literature available on the postculturalist movement.

For release: March 1998
Can You Resist the Seduction and Terror of Tel Quel Theory?

-- Available for the First Time in English --

"This reader will prove extremely valuable to structuralist and post-structuralist literature scholars..."
-- Library Journal

"This collection includes the most important essays and gives an excellent picture of Tel Quel's work and evolution over time."
-- Fredric Jameson, Duke University

What is Tel Quel?
The explosion of a radical theory of literature which took place in France around 1968 had a vital enterprise. Tel Quel was an intellectual grouping, French literary journal, and publishing team that printed some of the earliest works by "theory legends" like Derrida, Bataille, Kristeva, Barthes, Foucault and Deleuze. THE TEL QUEL READER (Routledge; March 17, 1998; a trade paperback original), edited by Patrick ffrench and Roland-Francois Lack, presents -- for the first time in English -- some of the key texts of the radical theory and practice of literature which emerged in France in the 1960's and 1970's.

This reader provides a unique insight into the poststructuralist movement and presents some of the pioneering essays on literature and culture, gender, film, semiotics, and psychoanalysis -- works by theorists who no doubt continue to inspire many of the intellectuals of the next generation. THE TEL QUEL READER fills a crucial gap in literary and cultural theory and illuminates the enduring value of the journal's enterprise.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:
Both Patrick ffrench and Roland-Francois Lack are Lecturers of French at University College London. ffrench is the author of The Time of Theory (1996) and Lack is the author of Poetics of the Pretext (1997).

THE TEL QUEL READER includes:
writings never before published in the English language by,
KRISTEVA
GOUX
BAUDRY
FOUCAULT
PLEYNET
SOLLERS
DEVADE
SCARPETTA
and an interview with BARTHES

Both Patrick French and Roland-Francois Lack are Lecturers of French at University College London. French is the author of The Time of Theory (1996) and Lack is the author of Poetics of the Pretext (1997).