Description
Book SynopsisJames R. Martel complicates Louis Althusser's theory of interpellation, using historical and literary analyses ranging from the Haitian Revolution to Ta-Nehisi Coates to examine the political and revolutionary potential inherent in the instances when people heed the state's call that was not meant for them.
Trade Review"In this brilliant new theory of political agency, James R. Martel pushes a politics for the failed, flawed, and damaged people we actually are. Rejecting the heroism that binds us to authority, he looks to the ones who show up, unexpected and unwanted. Through original readings of Althusser, Fanon, and others, Martel strips politics of all guarantees. Freedom is possible, if we want it." -- Jodi Dean author of * Crowds and Party *
"With its rich and provocative readings of diverse events and texts, Martel’s book would deserve wide-ranging praise simply for being a master-class in literary interpretation, but it goes much further in introducing and carefully developing a convincing theory of misinterpellation." -- Smita A. Rahman * Theory & Event *
“James Martel has given us a fine, well-written, and inspiring book, and I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone interested in subjectivity, ideology, recognition, representation, and resistance.” -- Lasse Thomassen * Political Theory *
"A work of great interest. . . . Althusser taught us to judge books by their theoretical and practical effects. The effect of James Martel’s
The Misinterpellated Subject is to show that confronting the problem of subjection, and Althusser’s reflections on it, remains an unavoidable, even urgent, task." -- Warren Montag * Postmodern Culture *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix
Introduction. Unsummoned! When the Call Is Not Meant for You 1
Part I. Subjects of the Call
1. From "Hey, You There!" to "Wait Up!": The Workings (and Unworkings) of Interpellation 35
2. "Men Are Born Free and Equal in Rights": Historical Examples of Interpellation aend Misinterpellation 58
3. "Tiens, un Nègre": Fanon and the Refusal of Colonial Subjectivity 96
Part II. The One(s) Who Showed Up
4. "[A Person] Is Something That Shall Be Overcome": The Misinterpellated Messiah, or How Nietzsche Saves Us from Salvation 133
5. "Come, Come!": Bartleby and Lily Briscoe as Nietzschean Subjects 163
6. "Consent to Not Be a Single Being": Resisting Identity, Confronting the Law in Kafka's
Amerika, Ellison's
Invisible Man, and Coates's
Between the World and Me 198
7. "I Can Believe": Breaking the Circuits of Interpellation in von Trier's
Breaking the Waves 243
Conclusion. The Misinterpellated Subject: Anarchist All the Way Down 266
Notes 275
Bibliography 309
Index 317
