In Praise of Love

In this free-ranging, thought-provoking dialogue, French intellectual, philosopher, and playwright Badiou sings a paean to the anticapitalist, antiessentialist, unifying power of love. Edited from a conversation between Badiou and Truong at the Avignon Festival’s Theatre of Ideas, Badiou’s ruminations center on some of the themes addressed in his previous work, The Meaning of Sarkozy. Specifically, Badiou’s discussion of love is rooted in his fight against “zero risk” economic theories of interaction and relationship replacing the volatile emotional contours of love and friendship. His description of the latter draws from sources as rarefied as Jacques Lacan and Emmanuel Levinas to classic French litterateurs like Stéphane Mallarmé and Paul Claudel. The book’s ode to love’s power to unite in the face of eternity, and its optimism in the face of pain is wonderful for readers of pop philosophical writers like Mark Grief, Laura Kipnis, and Simon Critchley—especially those recently dumped. Agent: George Lucas, Inkwell Management. (Nov.)