This "Critical Reader" provides the first truly balanced assessment of Baudrillard's contributions to contemporary thought. The writers commissioned for this volume interrogate Baudrillard's positions in terms of specific topics, fields and debates - from his early work on the "system of objects" to his most recent metaphysical speculations on the fatality of the subject.
Self-described "intellectual terrorist" Jean Baudrillard is one of the most important and provocative writers of the contemporary era. Widely acclaimed as the prophet of postmodernity, he has famously announced the disappearance of the subject, political economy, meaning, truth, the social, and the real in contemporary social formations. Replacing the most persistent modern orthodoxies with his own often novel formulations and arguments, Baudrillard's writings have generated enormous controversy, forcing readers to decide if his thought is progression or regression from established positions.
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