Pierre Macherey

Neil Badmington (Cardiff University)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.5.2.07: French Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary, 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Kate Averis (University of Western Australia), Hugo Azerad (University of Cambridge), Patrick ffrench (King's College London), Edward Forman (University of Bristol), Akane Kawakami (Birkbeck, University of London), Siobhán McIlvanney (King's College London), Sinan Richards (King's College London), Tim Unwin (University of Bristol), David Williams (University of Sheffield)

Dates

Born 17 Feb 1938
Activity 1958-ongoing

Places

Born in France
Active in France

Activities

Primary

Literary Theorist
Philosopher

Resources

Macherey's Works

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Although sometimes simply remembered for his literary take on Althusserian Marxism, Pierre Macherey is perhaps better understood as a significant figure in the early development of poststructuralism. Born in France in1938, Macherey received his

maîtrise

from the

École Normale Supérieur

in 1961. The focus of the project – which was supervised by Georges Canguilhem – was the philosophy and politics of Spinoza, a thinker whose work Macherey has returned to on numerous subsequent occasions. In 1962-3 Macherey began to take an active part in a seminar organized by the Marxist philosopher, Louis Althusser, and this association would eventually lead to Macherey contributing to

Lire le capital

[

Reading Capital

], (Althusser and Balibar, 1970).

Although the focus of the 1962-3 seminar was

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2083 words

Citation: Badmington, Neil. "Pierre Macherey". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 04 April 2003 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=2851, accessed 24 November 2024.]