Cheap DVDs, books, CDs & Games

Search:

The Transparency of Evil: Essays on Extreme Phenomena

By: Jean Baudrillard
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Verso Books
ISBN: 0860915883
ISBN-13: 9780860915881
Released: 29 Mar 1993
RRP: £13.00
Average Rating:

Customer Reviews

merciless and powerful but essentially glib - By: , 11 May 2002
Jean Baudrillard is perhaps the finest critic of our time, though his power of objective insight is on the wane & - as great a read as 'Transparency of Evil' is - it is the beginning of the end of Baudrillard being a serious analyst of culture. A collection of thematic essays, Baudrillard critiques society in his usual cool, detached & amoral tone. The influence of Nietzsche is certainly apparent, though where Nietzsche was a fantastic stylist, Baudrillard's metaphors possess little weight & seem as superficial as his subject matter. There is no depth to the analysis, unlike previous masterpeices like 'The System of Objects' & 'The Gulf War Did Not Take Place', & the author seems intent on making sweeping generalisations. In this sense the book is a good read & holds appeal for pretentious art-world types, but cannot reallly be taken seriously by those seeking weight in the arguements. Indeed, Baudrillard, like Foucault & Derrida, is often described as 'trendy' by academics in a somewhat derogatory sense, which is a shame because Baudrillard is capable of powerful critique...