L'Éclat de l'absolu is a crucial work for anyone interested in Alain Badiou's thought. Through interviews conducted by philosopher and editor Jana Ndiaye Berankova, readers are invited to immerse themselves in a rich and nuanced dialogue exploring the major philosophical influences—Plato, Hegel, Sartre, Althusser, Lacan and Deleuze—that have shaped Badiou's thought.
L'Éclat de l'absolu offers perhaps the most comprehensive and systematic collection of interviews realized to date on Badiou's philosophical "masters": Plato, Hegel, Sartre, Althusser, Lacan, and Deleuze. These dialogues are a true anamnesis, supported by a profound knowledge of the work of Badiou and other thinkers and by a constant return to the texts. They offer new and sometimes more accessible points of view on his major works such as Being and Event (1988) and The Immanence of Truths (2018) as well as considerations on the problems of Marxism, on the critique of the party-state, the role of the absolute and the possibilities to overcome the death drive and to reconcile conscious and unconscious spheres of a human psyche.
To honor the "classical" aspects of Badiou's complex system of thought, L'Éclat de l'absolu is published in a hardcover edition with a golden foil-stamp print and includes drawings inspired by baroque engravings and the French Encyclopedia made by Prague-based artist Alexey Klyuykov. A true editorial work of art and a book-lovers' dream, this book opens new paths for the future of philosophy.
Alain Badiou (born 1937 in Rabat) is a French philosopher, novelist and playwright. He was a founding member of the philosophy department at the University of Paris VIII – Vincennes, and is Professor Emeritus at the École Normale Supérieure. His main works are Being and Event (1988), Logics of Worlds (2006) and The Immanence of Truths (2018).
Jana Ndiaye Berankova is a philosopher, writer, publisher, theorist of architecture, and currently a fellow at Columbia University's Institute for Ideas and Imagination in Paris. Former student of the École Normale Supérieure, she defended her PhD dissertation on the links between French philosophy and architectural theory between 1965 and 1990 at Columbia University's School of Architecture (GSAPP). Her research interest include the links between continental philosophy and theory of architecture, Marxism, Alain Badiou's thinking, the artistic and political avant-gardes of Central Europe, and Senegalese architecture after the proclamation of independence. She is the founder of Suture Press and a member of the Prague Axiomatic Circle (together with Nick Nesbitt and Michael Hauser).
