French Literature Reviews - 2026
Valences of the Dialectic
Philosophy, Anthropology and Ideas
Fredric JAMESON, Valences of the Dialectic, London, Verso, 2007, 320 p.
ISBN-13 978 1 85984 877 7
ABSTRACT
A comprehensive analysis of the philosophy of the dialectic by the doyen of cultural criticism.
One of the most accomplished literary and cultural critics in the world, Fredric Jameson returns to the philosophy of the dialectic in a grand and nuanced study of the concept and those who have developed it. The question of the dialectic remains at the center of contemporary theoretical debates: Is it Hegelian and idealistic? To what degree is it central to Marxism? Is a materialist dialectic really possible? How damaging are the “poststructuralist” critiques of the dialectic by Deleuze, and Laclau and Mouffe? Valences of the Dialectic addresses these questions, and studies individual thinkers both dialectical and anti-dialectical, from Hegel and Fichte to Heidegger, Sartre, Derrida, Deleuze and Lacan.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Fredric Jameson is Distinguished Professor of Comparative Literature at Duke University. He is the author of numerous books, including Archaeologies of the Future, The Modernist Papers, A Singular Modernity; and Postmodernism, Or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism.
The concept of the dialectic has long occupied a central position within Marxist theory, continental philosophy, and literary criticism, tracing its lineage from German idealism through various materialist and phenomenological reorientations. In intellectual history, the tension between idealist systems such as those of Hegel and Fichte and subsequent anti-dialectic critiques has continuously reshaped debates over historical agency, political totality, and structural analysis. Twentieth-century thought further complicated these trajectories as phenomenological and psychoanalytic traditions engaged with, and frequently sought to dismantle, dialectical presuppositions. Within this broader academic landscape, examinations of the dialectic engage directly with the foundational texts and revisions that define modern theoretical discourse.
Fredric Jameson addresses the ongoing debate surrounding the status of the dialectic, considering whether the concept remains fundamentally Hegelian and idealistic, the extent of its centrality to Marxism, and the possibility of a materialist dialectic. The study examines poststructuralist critiques from thinkers such as Deleuze, Laclau, and Mouffe, alongside individual analyses of both dialectical and anti-dialectical philosophers including Hegel, Fichte, Heidegger, Sartre, Derrida, Deleuze, and Lacan. Readers interested in contemporary theoretical debates, continental philosophy, and the intellectual history of Marxism may find this work relevant to their studies.