Persistence of the Negative

Benjamin Noys is Professor of Critical Theory at the University of Chichester. His books include Crisis and Criticism: Essays, 2009–2021 (Brill, 2024), The Matter of Language: Abstraction and Poetry (Seagull, 2023), Malign Velocities: Accelerationism and Capitalism (Zero, 2014), and The Persistence of the Negative: A Critique of Contemporary Theory (Edinburgh University Press, 2010).

• Acknowledgments; Preface; Introduction; 1. On the Edge of Affirmation: Derrida; 2. Adieu to Negativity: Gilles Deleuze; 3. The Density and Fragility of the World: Latour; 4. Immeasurable Life: Negri; 5. On the Edge of the Negative: Badiou; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.

Benjamin Noys' important new book The Persistence of the Negative: A Critique of Contemporary Continental Theory singularly reverses the recent tendency toward caricature in its fine-grained readings of the contemporary thinkers of what he terms ‘affirmationism’ … He [raises] complex and important questions in a deft, clearly written and intellectually generous fashion.