Twentieth-century French philosophy continues to inflame the passions of American readers in the 21st. While Anglo-American philosophy can seem impossibly dry and technical, the great French masters still speak to our most urgent concerns. What they say is another matter. Many people still accuse Foucault, Derrida, and company of ruining higher education and possibly Western civilization itself. Yet many others continue to read “French Theory” with pleasure and fascination, both inside and outside the academy. On a recent visit to Barnes and Noble, I wound up having a conversation with a bookseller who was eager to talk about Lacan and Deleuze.
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