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The Twilight of Politics
Series: The Italian List
Brief Description
A classic work of political theory by a major twentieth-century figure of the Italian Left. Italian political thinker Mario Tronti is most famous for being the author of Workers and Capital, which became the central theoretical formulation of Italian operaismo or workerism, a current of political...
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The Twilight of Politics
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Description
A classic work of political theory by a major twentieth-century figure of the Italian Left.
Italian political thinker Mario Tronti is most famous for being the author of Workers and Capital, which became the central theoretical formulation of Italian operaismo or workerism, a current of political thought emerging in the 1960s that revolutionised the institutional and extra-parliamentary Left in Italy and beyond. In The Twilight of Politics, written originally in 1998, Tronti argues that modern politics, which reached its apogee in the twentieth century, has ended.
Realism and Utopia, Tronti explains, were the foundational qualities of modern politics, which it always tried to clasp together. But behind this high-water mark of politics was a history over the longue durée, encompassing the wars of religion, Hobbes' Leviathan, revolution, great individuals, and popular movements, as well as innovations such as the nation-state and the party-form. Historically, the modern period is also a coming together of the categories of the political and the laws of political economy. At the heart of this book is Tronti's attempt to hold together a view of the course of political history with a critique of the "dictatorship of the present" to help us escape being "chained to the bars of an eternal present . . . which deprives us both of the freedom to look back and to see ahead."
Series: The Italian List
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Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781803093741
Publisher: Seagull Books London Ltd
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 18 March 2025
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Seagull Books London Ltd
Contributors:
- Translated by Matteo Mandarini
- Foreword by Matteo Mandarini
Audience: Professional and scholarly
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 20.0mm
Width: 152.0mm
Height: 229.0mm
Weight: 426g
Pages: 252
About the Author
Mario Tronti is the author of Workers and Capital. An active member of the Italian Communist Party, he taught philosophy at the University of Siena, served as a member of the Italian Senate twice, and published several books and articles. He divides his time between Rome and Umbria. Matteo Mandarini is a senior lecturer in politics and organization at Queen Mary University of London. He is the translator of several books, including The Writer and the People and Hamletics.
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