Michel Foucault: Form and Power
Dan Beer
Legenda (General Series) •1 May 2002

  • ‘Beer's book is a dialogue with Foucault, including critiques of his arguments by Baudrillard and Derrida. It has been suggested that the seductive beauty of Foucault's language masks the frailty of some of his positions, and Beer provides close analysis of the stylistic strategies he deploys.’ — unsigned notice, Forum for Modern Language Studies XXXIX, 2003, 465-6
  • ‘After Beer we can return to Foucault's texts with a new imagination and a new sensitivity to the force of his style.’ — Jeremy Carrette, Modern Language Review 99.2, 2004, 502-3 (full text online)

Race and the Unconscious: Freudianism in French Caribbean Thought
Celia Britton
Research Monographs in French Studies 12•1 November 2002

  • ‘In this original, succinct, and highly relevant book, Celia Britton ... traces the various distortions and reformulations of Freudian thought within the Antillean context. ... The book combines intricate close reading with in-depth knowledge of the psychoanalytic field, and this brief but punchy sequence of arguments successfully points the way towards further questioning and research in a rich and complex area.’ — Jane Hiddleston, Modern Language Review 100.2, 2005, 515 (full text online)
  • ‘Fascinating essay ... Britton does not so much draw a conclusion as bring the argument to a point of (provisional) closure. But it is equally her triumph to be in a position to point to certain stable notions.’ — Belinda Jack, French Studies LVIII.3, 2004, 438-9
  • ‘A succinct, tightly-argued study... Britton's reading of this already much-interpreted and misinterpreted text [Peau noire, masques blancs] is complex and original.’ — Sam Haigh, Journal of Romance Studies 6.3, 2006, 127-35

Fragments of Impegno
Jennifer Burns
Italian Perspectives 9•31 January 2002

Pinter and the Object of Desire: An Approach through the Screenplays
Linda Renton
Legenda (General Series) •1 May 2002

  • ‘Linda Renton's superb study of Pinter as screenwriter quotes him saying how natural the process seemed when he started to write for films in the early 1960s... A strong commitment to the power of the image runs through his screen work, however paradoxical this might seem in a writer famed for his sparring dialogue. Renton argues that the image was central to his approach to film, suggesting that there is an "an object of desire" at the heart of all Pinter's screenplays: one which is often barely visible - or even invisible - to the characters in the story.’ — Ian Christie, Sight & Sound June 2009, 33