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In Praise Of Love (2009)

by Alain Badiou(Favorite Author)

3.91 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

1846687799 (ISBN13: 9781846687792)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Serpent's Tail

review 1: En général, Je suis d'accord avec Monsieur Alain aux ses Idées. L'amour est un expérience très dangereux et très magnifique en même temps! Peut être, ça se fait tout l'enchantement! Mais, Je crois, il mérite.J'adore ses opinions de Politique contre L'amour :)) Je suis toujours très fasciné par les deux ensemble et comment les émotions les deux ont! C'est vraiment magnifique.J'espère lire ce livre en français ou bien écouter à leur dialogue.
review 2: A short read. The interview format was quite good. I have a few pointers of things that I thought either stood out, could be developed upon, or disagreed with.1) Badiou makes the brilliant point that the media plays on the risks that being in love involves, but he doesn't say much as to why. I don'... moret have an answer but I do think what cannot be underestimated is all the baggage that socialization, lived experience and ideology inflict upon people, and how this contributes towards what can be quite a defining part of the risks, real & inflated: social & economic pressures and insecurities, under confidence, ruling-class ideas around what love & sexuality really is (that aren't just shared by the ruling-class), etc.2) I completely disagree with his logic around the family as the institution for the channeling and genuine realization of love, in a lot of ways, I think quite the opposite. You can see this in all his stuff about the "formulaic unit", and when he defends love against cynicism and conflates love and the family.3) Interesting discussion on the sexual relationship as being narcissistic, selfish and essentially a "non-relationship", with love being the focus on the other being.4) I thought the point about love not being a cover for sexual desire, but a process of construction and re-invention was *spot on*, and flies in the face of all that hollywood, "happy ever after" bollocks. Although he also tries to grapple with why the latter can be appealing, which was good too.5) Following on from that, his analysis of fidelity is sharp, I thought, i.e. The view of it as an encounter that can be destroyed by the nature of construction in love, if that construction is successful. As he goes on to say, in the struggle to overcome new conditions shaping "the two scene", love must always recreate itself to re-declare on new terms. On a side note, his insight that this can often cause existential crises is on the mark, just as it is in all searches for truth.6) His critique of the cult of personality and idolatry from the standpoint of love is an intriguing one, that I want to explore more. Obviously I disagree with the brief conception of Communism he described, but that '68 Maoist ability to combine a libertarian hatred of bureaucracy and anything monolithic, with a complete Soviet conception of Communism is admirable, if not a little annoying.Finally, these words were brilliant: "To love is to struggle, beyond solitude, with everything in the world that can animate existence."All round, a great read! less

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