John, and all,
I read a few chapters of this a few years back, especially in relation to
Postone's re-readings of Marx on time. That in angle in itself is
noteworthy, b/c this has been a neglected dimension in Marx et al. What I
especially like is his insistence that the point isn't to critque what
happens to labor (i.e., on the market), but to apprehend the very category
itself, as a "rational" and spectral abstraction, "before" the selling,
etc. of labor.
I'll have to look at it again to be more exact. On the subject, though,
I'd like to plug Balibar's recent "The Philosophy of Marx," a brief but
characteristically illuminating reading of Marx.
Best,
Daniel Vukovich
At 01:47 AM 10/15/97 -0400, you wrote:
>I wonder if some of the more Marxist-oriented members of this list had
>come across the following title:
>
> _Time, Labor, and Social Domination_ by Moishe Postone
> published by Cambridge University Press, 1993; ISBN #0-521-56540-5
>
>I have only read the first chapter but it seems, on that admittedly slim
>basis, to be one of the more insightful reconstructions of the Marxist
>critique of capitalism and politics.
>
>Mr. Postone wants to work past the specifics of Marx's analysis of
>capitalism and beyond the kind of pessimism associated with the Frankfurt
>School. I haven't read all of it yet, but would be interested in reactions
>from those who have fully digested this angle on Marxist thought.
>
>Thanks for any response,
>
>--John
>
>
Daniel Vukovich
English; Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign