{"product_id":"history-and-repetition-9780231157292","title":"History and Repetition","description":"\u003cp\u003eKojin Karatani wrote the essays in \u003ci\u003eHistory and Repetition\u003c\/i\u003e during a time of radical historical change, triggered by the collapse of the Cold War and the death of the Showa emperor in 1989. Reading Karl Marx in an original way, Karatani developed a theory of history based on the repetitive cycle of crises attending the expansion and transformation of capital. His work led to a rigorous analysis of political, economic, and literary forms of representation that recast historical events as a series of repeated forms forged in the transitional moments of global capitalism. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eHistory and Repetition\u003c\/i\u003e cemented Karatani's reputation as one of Japan's premier thinkers, capable of traversing the fields of philosophy, political economy, history, and literature in his work. The first complete translation of \u003ci\u003eHistory and Repetition\u003c\/i\u003e into English, undertaken with the cooperation of Karatani himself, this volume opens with his innovative reading of \u003ci\u003eThe Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte\u003c\/i\u003e, tracing Marx's early theoretical formulation of the state. Karatani follows with a study of violent crises as they recur after major transitions of power, developing his theory of historical repetition and introducing a groundbreaking interpretation of fascism (in both Europe and Japan) as the spectral return of the absolutist monarch in the midst of a crisis of representative democracy. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFor Karatani, fascism represents the most violent materialization of the repetitive mechanism of history. Yet he also seeks out singularities that operate outside the brutal inevitability of historical repetition, whether represented in literature or, more precisely, in the process of literature's demise. Closely reading the works of Oe Kenzaburo, Mishima Yukio, Nakagami Kenji, and Murakami Haruki, Karatani compares the recurrent and universal with the singular and unrepeatable, while advancing a compelling theory of the decline of modern literature. Merging theoretical arguments with a concrete analysis of cultural and intellectual history, Karatani's essays encapsulate a brilliant, multidisciplinary perspective on world history.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eKojin Karatani is a Japanese philosopher and founder of the New Associationist Movement (NAM). His books in English include \u003ci\u003eOrigins of Modern Japanese Literature\u003c\/i\u003e; \u003ci\u003eArchitecture as Metaphor: Language, Number, Money\u003c\/i\u003e; and \u003ci\u003eTranscritique: On Kant and Marx\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eSeiji M. Lippit is associate professor of modern Japanese literature and culture at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is the author of \u003ci\u003eTopographies of Japanese Modernism\u003c\/i\u003e and editor of \u003ci\u003eThe Essential Akutagawa\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Columbia University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50318565638418,"sku":"9780231157292","price":37.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_c6087a90-6261-42cf-aee2-4a1ffe915148.jpg?v=1727557779","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/history-and-repetition-9780231157292","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}