Sylvère Lotringer (15 October 1938 – 8 November 2021) was a French-born

literary critic A genre of arts criticism, literary criticism or literary studies is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical analysis of literature' ...

and cultural theorist. Initially based in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, he later lived in Los Angeles and

Baja California Baja California, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California, is a state in Mexico. It is the northwesternmost of the 32 federal entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1952, the area was known as the North Territory of B ...

, Mexico.Hultkrans, Andrew
"Bookforum talks with Sylvère Lotringer,"
14 September 2015. Retrieved 7 October 2021.Schwarz, Henry and Anne Balsamo. "Under the Sign of Semiotext(e): The Story According to Sylvere Lotringer and Chris Kraus," ''Critique'', Spring 1996, p. 205–21. He is best known for synthesizing French theory with American literary, cultural and architectural

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

movements as founder of the journal ''

Semiotext(e) Semiotext(e) is an independent publisher of critical theory, fiction, philosophy, art criticism, activist texts and non-fiction. History Founded in 1974, ''Semiotext(e)'' began as a journal that emerged from a semiotics reading group led by Syl ...

'' and for his interpretations of theory in a 21st-century context.Darms, Lisa
"Semiotext at the Biennial: An Interview with Hedi el Kholti,"
''Hyperallergic'', 17 May 2014. Retrieved 7 October 2021.Whitney Museum of American Art
Semiotext(e)
2014 Biennial. Retrieved 7 October 2021.''Semiotext(e)''
Sylvère Lotringer
Retrieved 7 October 2021. He is regarded as an influential interpreter of

Jean Baudrillard Jean Baudrillard (, ; ; – 6 March 2007) was a French sociology, sociologist and philosopher with an interest in cultural studies. He is best known for his analyses of media, contemporary culture, and technological communication, as well as hi ...

's theories, among others.Lotringer, Sylvère
"Jean Baudrillard,"
''Artforum'', Summer 2007. Retrieved 7 October 2021.

Life and work

Lotringer was born in Paris to Doba (Borenstein) and Cudek Lotringer, Polish Jewish immigrants who left Warsaw for France in 1930, where they ran a fur shop.Grau, Donatien
Sylvère Lotringer
''purple Magazine'', Fall/Winter 2016. Retrieved 7 October 2021. His early life was marked by the Nazi occupation of Paris, and like his contemporaries

Georges Perec Georges Perec (; 7 March 1936 – 3 March 1982) was a French novelist, filmmaker, documentalist, and essayist. He was a member of the Oulipo group. His father died as a soldier early in the Second World War and his mother was killed in the Ho ...

and Sarah Kofman, he spent the war as a "hidden child." In 1949, Lotringer emigrated to Israel with his family and returned to Paris the year after to join the left-wing Zionist movement Hashomer-Hatzair (The Young Garde) and became one of its leaders. He left the movement eight years later. In 1957, while still at the lycée, Lotringer joined the editorial collective of ''La Ligne Générale'' headed by Perec. Taking its name from

Sergei Eisenstein Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein; (11 February 1948) was a Soviet film director, screenwriter, film editor and film theorist. Considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, he was a pioneer in the theory and practice of montage. He is no ...

's famous film '' The General Line'', this group of young Jewish men favored Hollywood westerns, slapstick and pre-Stalinist communism. The project was praised by

Henri Lefebvre Henri Lefebvre ( ; ; 16 June 1901 – 29 June 1991) was a French Marxist philosopher and sociologist, best known for furthering the critique of everyday life, for introducing the concepts of the right to the city and the production of social ...

but strongly criticized by

Simone de Beauvoir Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir (, ; ; 9 January 1908 – 14 April 1986) was a French existentialist philosopher, writer, social theorist, and feminist activist. Though she did not consider herself a philosopher, nor was she ...

, who found it "politically irresponsible." Entering the Sorbonne in 1958, Lotringer created ''L’Étrave'', a literary magazine, with Nicole Chardaire and contributed to ''Paris-Lettres'', the journal of the French Students' Association (1959–61).Thomas, Jonathan
"Sylvère Lotringer,"
''The Third Rail'', Issue 6, 2016. Retrieved 7 October 2021. As President of the UNEF freshman class at the Sorbonne, he led mobilizations against France's colonial

Algerian War The Algerian War (also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence) ''; '' (and sometimes in Algeria as the ''War of 1 November'') was an armed conflict between France and the Algerian National Liberation Front (Algeri ...

. In 1964, he entered the École pratique des hautes études, VIe section (

sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...

). He received his Ph.D. in the sociology of literature from the institution in 1967 after completing a dissertation on

Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer and one of the most influential 20th-century modernist authors. She helped to pioneer the use of stream of consciousness narration as a literary device. Vir ...

's novels under the supervision of

Roland Barthes Roland Gérard Barthes (; ; 12 November 1915 – 25 March 1980) was a French literary theorist, essayist, philosopher, critic, and semiotician. His work engaged in the analysis of a variety of sign systems, mainly derived from Western popu ...

and

Lucien Goldmann Lucien Goldmann (; 20 July 1913 – 8 October 1970) was a French philosopher and sociologist of Jewish-Romanian origin. A professor at the EHESS in Paris, he was a Marxist theorist. His wife was sociologist Annie Goldmann. Biography Goldmann w ...

.Marzoni, Andrew
"A Small but Important Job: Gary Indiana’s “Vile Days,'"
''Los Angeles Review of Books'', 13 December 2018. Retrieved 7 October 2021. His work was aided by his friendship with

Leonard Woolf Leonard Sidney Woolf (; – ) was a British List of political theorists, political theorist, author, publisher, and civil servant. He was married to author Virginia Woolf. As a member of the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party and the Fabian Socie ...

and his acquaintance with

T.S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist and playwright.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biography''. New York: Oxford University ...

and Vita Sackville-West, with whom he conducted interviews published in

Louis Aragon Louis Aragon (; 3 October 1897 – 24 December 1982) was a French poet who was one of the leading voices of the Surrealism, surrealist movement in France. He co-founded with André Breton and Philippe Soupault the surrealist review ''Littératur ...

's journal ''Les Lettres Francaises'' during his ten years as a correspondent. Avoiding French military service in Algeria, Lotringer spent 1962 in the United States and then taught for the French Cultural Services as a lecturer at Atatürk University in

Erzurum Erzurum (; ) is a List of cities in Turkey, city in eastern Anatolia, Turkey. It is the largest city and capital of Erzurum Province and is 1,900 meters (6,233 feet) above sea level. Erzurum had a population of 367,250 in 2010. It is the site of an ...

, Turkey from 1965 to 1967.Waltemath, Joan
"A Life in Theory: Sylvère Lotringer with Joan Waltemath,"
''The Brooklyn Rail'', September 2006. Retrieved 7 October 2021. He returned to the United States via Australia (where he briefly taught at the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW) is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was established in 1949. The university comprises seven faculties, through which it offers bachelor's, master's and docto ...

) as an

assistant professor Assistant professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States, Canada, Japan, and South Korea. Overview This position is generally taken after earning a doct ...

of French at

Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the e ...

in 1969. Following two years as an

associate professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a position ...

Case Western Reserve University Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a Private university, private research university in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It was established in 1967 by a merger between Western Reserve University and the Case Institute of Technology. Case ...

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...

, he joined the faculty of

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

as a tenured associate professor of French and

comparative literature Comparative literature studies is an academic field dealing with the study of literature and cultural expression across language, linguistic, national, geographic, and discipline, disciplinary boundaries. Comparative literature "performs a role ...

in the autumn of 1972. He was promoted to

full professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a 'person who professes'. Professors ...

in 1985 and retired as

professor emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retirement, retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". ...

in 2009. He was also known for his second marriage (1988-2014; sep. 2005) to writer and filmmaker Chris Kraus. Lotringer died on Monday, 8 November 2021 in Baja California after a long illness."Sylvère Lotringer est mort, la French Theory perd son passeur"
''Liberation'', (in French) November 2021. Retrieved 10 November 2021.

Cultural synthesis

Arriving in New York City in the early 1970s, Lotringer saw the opportunity to introduce French theorists whose work at that time was largely unknown in the US to the city's artistic and literary community. Playing chess in the

West Village The West Village is a neighborhood in the western section of the larger Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, New York City. The West Village is bounded by the Hudson River to the west and 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to ...

with

John Cage John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and Extended technique, non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one ...

, he sensed similarities between Thoreau and the "chance operations" being practiced by Fluxus, William S. Burroughs, Brion Gysin and others, and the Nietzsche-inspired post-structuralist theorists.Hond, Paul
"Shoot Shoot, Bang Bang: The visceral cinema of Kathryn Bigelow ’79SOA has heady theoretical roots,"
''Columbia Magazine'', Winter 2009-10. Retrieved 7 October 2021. Uninspired by the doctrinaire post-

Frankfurt School The Frankfurt School is a school of thought in sociology and critical theory. It is associated with the University of Frankfurt Institute for Social Research, Institute for Social Research founded in 1923 at the University of Frankfurt am Main ...

Marxism Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, ...

of the

American Left The American Left refers to the groups or ideas on the left of the political spectrum in the United States. It is occasionally used as a shorthand for groups aligned with the Democratic Party. At other times, it refers to groups that have soug ...

, he sought to introduce independently the more fluid and rhizomatic ideas of power and desire developed by

Gilles Deleuze Gilles Louis René Deleuze (18 January 1925 – 4 November 1995) was a French philosopher who, from the early 1950s until his death in 1995, wrote on philosophy, literature, film, and fine art. His most popular works were the two volumes o ...

Félix Guattari Pierre-Félix Guattari ( ; ; 30 March 1930 – 29 August 1992) was a French psychoanalyst, political philosopher, Semiotics, semiotician, social activist, and screenwriter. He co-founded schizoanalysis with Gilles Deleuze, and created ecosophy ...

, and

Michel Foucault Paul-Michel Foucault ( , ; ; 15 October 192625 June 1984) was a French History of ideas, historian of ideas and Philosophy, philosopher who was also an author, Literary criticism, literary critic, Activism, political activist, and teacher. Fo ...

. In his book on French Theory's influence in the U.S., François Cusset wrote that Lotringer and ''Semiotext(e)'' "played a breathtaking role in the early diffusion of French theory," positioned along the "porous border between the university and the countercultural networks."Cusset, François
''French Theory: How Foucault, Derrida, Deleuze, & Co. Transformed the Intellectual Life of the United States''
Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2008. Retrieved 7 October 2021. A few years later Lotringer discovered

Paul Virilio Paul Virilio (; 4 January 1932 – 10 September 2018) was a French Culture theory, cultural theorist, Urban planning, urbanist, architect and aesthetic philosopher. He is best known for his writings about technology as it has developed in relation ...

's theory of speed and technology and Baudrillard's analysis of consumer culture's infinite exchangeability, introducing them in turn into American political discourse. A younger contemporary of

, Baudrillard, Virilio and

, Lotringer invited a small group of graduate students to study these thinkers, who were not yet on the curriculum. Together with his partner Susie Flato and graduate student John Reichman, he began the journal ''Semiotext(e)'' in 1973 with the goal of introducing French theory to America.Lvoff Sophie T
"The Center Is Not the Center: An Interview with Chris Kraus,"
''Los Angeles Review of Books'', 23 February 2019. Retrieved 7 October 2021.Lotringer, Sylvère
"My ’80s: Better Than Life,"
''Artforum'', April 2003. Retrieved 7 October 2021. The group expanded and produced three issues on the epistemology of

semiotics Semiotics ( ) is the systematic study of sign processes and the communication of meaning. In semiotics, a sign is defined as anything that communicates intentional and unintentional meaning or feelings to the sign's interpreter. Semiosis is a ...

. In 1975, they staged the provocative ''Schizo-Culture'' conference on ''Madness and Prisons'' at Columbia University, where more than 2,000 attendees witnessed "show-downs" between Foucault, conspiracy theorist

Lyndon LaRouche Lyndon Hermyle LaRouche Jr. (September 8, 1922 – February 12, 2019) was an American political activist who founded the LaRouche movement and its main organization, the National Caucus of Labor Committees (NCLC). He was a prominent conspiracy ...

, Guattari, feminist Ti-Grace Atkinson, Ronald D. Laing, and others.Hultkrans, Andrew
"Empire State of Mind,"
''Artforum'', 20 November 2014. Retrieved 7 October 2021.Fletcher, Jim
"Semiotext(e)’s Schizo-Culture,"
''Artforum'', April 2014. Retrieved 7 October 2021.Hothi, Ajay
“Schizo-Culture: Cracks In The Street,”
''Artforum'', 2014. Retrieved 7 October 2021. The event helped define a new mode of cultural discourse over the coming decade, and set the stage for future issues of ''Semiotext(e)'', which abandoned its scholarly format in favor of collaged images and texts by Deleuze, Foucault,

Jean-François Lyotard Jean-François Lyotard (; ; 10 August 1924 – 21 April 1998) was a French philosopher, sociologist, and literary theorist. His interdisciplinary discourse spans such topics as epistemology and communication, the human body, modern art and p ...

, Guy Hocquenghem,

Jacques Derrida Jacques Derrida (; ; born Jackie Élie Derrida;Peeters (2013), pp. 12–13. See also 15 July 1930 – 9 October 2004) was a French Algerian philosopher. He developed the philosophy of deconstruction, which he utilized in a number of his texts, ...

Heiner Müller Heiner Müller (; 9 January 1929 – 30 December 1995) was a German (formerly East German) dramatist, poet, writer, essayist and theatre director. His "enigmatic, fragmentary pieces" are a significant contribution to postmodern drama and postd ...

and their (as Lotringer saw it) American counterparts: Cage, Burroughs, Richard Foreman, Jack Smith,

Kathy Acker Kathy Acker (April 18, 1947 isputed– November 30, 1997) was an American experimental novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, critic, performance artist, and postmodernist writer, known for her idiosyncratic and transgressive writing that deal ...

, and others.Griffin, Tim
"Theoretical Physic,"
''Artforum'', April 2010. Retrieved 7 October 2021.''The New York Times''

1 December 1978, p C11. Retrieved 7 October 2021. In 1978, Lotringer staged ''The Nova Convention'', a three-day homage to Burroughs at New York University and in the East Village. Featuring performances and talks by

Patti Smith Patricia Lee Smith (born December 30, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, poet, painter, author, and photographer. Her 1975 debut album '' Horses'' made her an influential member of the New York City-based punk rock movement. Smith has fu ...

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American guitarist, composer, and bandleader. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, orchestra ...

Laurie Anderson Laura Phillips "Laurie" Anderson (born June 5, 1947) is an American avant-garde artist, musician and filmmaker whose work encompasses performance art, pop music, and multimedia projects. Initially trained in violin and sculpting,Amirkhanian, Cha ...

, Terry Southern,

Robert Anton Wilson Robert Anton Wilson (born Robert Edward Wilson; January 18, 1932 – January 11, 2007) was an American writer, futurist, psychologist, and self-described agnostic mystic. Recognized within Discordianism as an Episkopos, pope and saint, Wilson ...

Timothy Leary Timothy Francis Leary (October 22, 1920 – May 31, 1996) was an American psychologist and author known for his strong advocacy of psychedelic drugs. Evaluations of Leary are polarized, ranging from "bold oracle" to "publicity hound". Accordin ...

, and Burroughs himself, the event acclaimed Burroughs as "a philosopher of the future ..the man who best understood

post-industrial society In sociology, the post-industrial society is the stage of society's development when the service sector generates more wealth than the manufacturing sector of the economy. The term was originated by Alain Touraine and is closely related t ...

," and popularized his work among New York's

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

no-wave No wave was an avant-garde music Music genre, genre and visual art scene that emerged in the late 1970s in music, 1970s in Downtown New York City. The term was a pun based on the rejection of commercial new wave music. Reacting against punk roc ...

" generation. This provocative mix of street and academy, theory, art and politics, would become ''Semiotext(e)s trademark.Morris, David
"Four Decades of Semiotext(e),"
''Frieze'', 9 September 2013. Retrieved 7 October 2021.Apter, Emily
"The Whitney Biennial,"
''Artforum'', May 2014. Retrieved 7 October 2021. Determining that the collectivity that marked New York's cultural life was disappearing in the 1980s, Lotringer ceased regular publication of the ''Semiotext(e)'' journal in 1985, though book-length issues appeared into the 1990s. In its place, he instituted the Semiotext(e) "Foreign Agents" series—a collection of "little black books" by French theorists. Published with no introductions or afterwords, the books were conceived to present "theory brut" (like

champagne Champagne (; ) is a sparkling wine originated and produced in the Champagne wine region of France under the rules of the appellation, which demand specific vineyard practices, sourcing of grapes exclusively from designated places within it, spe ...

) into the American cultural marketplace. The series debuted in 1983 with Baudrillard's ''Simulations'', excerpted by Lotringer from ''Symbolic Exchange and Death'' (1977) and ''Simulacra and Simulations'' (1981). ''Simulations'' spawned a new art movement and served as the theoretical template for the Keanu Reeves movie, ''

The Matrix ''The Matrix'' is a 1999 science fiction film, science fiction action film written and directed by the Wachowskis. It is the first installment in the The Matrix (franchise), ''Matrix'' film series, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Ca ...

'' (1999). ''Simulations'' was followed later that year by ''Pure War'', his book-length conversation with Paul Virilio, in which the "philosopher of speed" expounded his vision of bunker archeology, accidents and dromology. The last, ''On the Line'', by Deleuze and Guattari, included ''Rhizome'', which anticipated

Internet culture Internet culture refers to culture developed and maintained among frequent and active users of the Internet (also known as netizens) who primarily communicate with one another as members of online communities; that is, a culture whose influence ...

. In 2004, Hedi El Kholti began working as an art director with Lotringer and Kraus on ''Semiotext(e)'' and soon after joined them as a co-editor.

Teaching and influence

Teaching 20th century French literature and philosophy at Columbia University for 35 years, Lotringer elaborated connections between modernist literature and fascism in his lectures, interpreting the "crazed modernists"

Antonin Artaud Antoine Maria Joseph Paul Artaud (; ; 4September 18964March 1948), better known as Antonin Artaud, was a French artist who worked across a variety of media. He is best known for his writings, as well as his work in the theatre and cinema. Widely ...

Georges Bataille Georges Albert Maurice Victor Bataille (; ; 10 September 1897 – 8 July 1962) was a French philosopher and intellectual working in philosophy, literature, sociology, anthropology, and history of art. His writing, which included essays, novels, ...

, Louis-Ferdinand Céline, and

Simone Weil Simone Adolphine Weil ( ; ; 3 February 1909 – 24 August 1943) was a French philosopher, mystic and political activist. Despite her short life, her ideas concerning religion, spirituality, and politics have remained widely influential in cont ...

as harbingers of the Jewish

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

.Kelsey, John
"Electroconvlusive Lit: Sylvère Lotringer’s Mad Like Artaud,"
''Texte Zur Kunst'', Issue No. 100/ December 2015. Retrieved 7 October 2021.Lewis, Pau

''The New York Times'', 20 November 1999. Retrieved 7 October 2021. As a scholar of the 20th century, he emphasized the experiential, "pre-modern" political roots of French theories that are often misread as cavalier orgies of cruelty, envisaging them as an attempt to create symbolic antidotes to both fascism and consumerism. Lotringer influenced the work of former students including filmmaker

Kathryn Bigelow Kathryn Ann Bigelow (; born November 27, 1951) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. Her accolades include two Academy Awards, two BAFTA Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award. ''Time'' magazine named her one of the 100 most i ...

,Dargis, Manohla
"Action!"
''The New York Times'', 18 June 2009. Retrieved 7 October 2021. semiotician Marshall Blonsky, art critics Tim Griffin and John Kelsey,French Culture
"France Honors David Lang and Tim Griffin,"
Awards. Retrieved 7 October 2021. actor Jim Fletcher, and poet

Ariana Reines Ariana Reines is an American poet, playwright, performance artist, and translator. Her books of poetry include ''The Cow'' (2006), which won the Alberta Prize from Fence Books; ''Coeur de Lion'' (2007); ''Mercury'' (2011); and ''Thursday'' (2012). ...

.Museum of Modern Art
"A Cine Virus Evening with Michael Oblowitz and Sylvère Lotringer,"
Events. Retrieved 7 October 2021. He appears as a quasi-fictional character in Kathy Acker's ''Great Expectations'' and ''My Mother: Demonology'',Acker, Kathy
''Great Expectations''
New York: Penguin Classics, 1983. Retrieved 7 October 2021.Acker, Kathy
''My Mother: Demonology: A Novel''
New York: Grove Press, 1994. Retrieved 7 October 2021. in Chris Kraus' ''I Love Dick'', ''Alien & Anorexia'' and ''Torpor'',Kraus, Chris
''I Love Dick''
New York: Semiotext(e), 1997. Retrieved 7 October 2021.Kraus, Chris
''Aliens & Anorexia''
New York: Semiotext(e), 2000. Retrieved 7 October 2021.Kraus, Chris
''Torpor''
Los Angeles: Semiotext(e), 2006. Retrieved 7 October 2021. and in Eileen Myles' ''Inferno''.Myles, Eileen
''Inferno (A Poet's Novel)''
New York: OR Books, 2010. Retrieved 7 October 2021. Lotringer was also

Chair and Professor of Philosophy at The European Graduate School.

New politics

Defining himself as a "foreign agent provocateur" in the United States, Lotringer traveled to Italy in 1979 and 1980 to document first-hand Italy's embattled post-Marxist Autonomia movement and secure their legacy.Kellogg, Carolyn
"How leftist intellectuals once approached bifurcated Berlin,"
''Los Angeles Times'', 8 November 2009. Retrieved 7 October 2021. His participant-observation with the innovative political movement resulted in ''Italy: Autonomia – Post-Political Politics'', a 1980 special publication of Semiotext(e). In 1992, he sought out former Black Panther Dhoruba al-Mujahid bin Wahad, who had just been provisionally released from prison after spending 19 years incarcerated on a charge of "sedition." Lotringer invited Dhoruba to produce a Semiotext(e) book vindicating and updating the

Black Panther Party The Black Panther Party (originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense) was a Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist and Black Power movement, black power political organization founded by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newto ...

's position. The result was ''Still Black, Still Strong'', an anthology of writings by Assata Shakur, Mumia Abu-Jamal and Bin-Wahad.Dhoruba, Bin Wahad, Assata Shakur and Mumia Abu-Jamal
'' Still Black, Still Strong Survivors of the U.S. War Against Black Revolutionaries''
Jim Fletcher, Tanaquil Jones and Sylvère Lotringer (eds.), Books. Retrieved 7 October 2021. In 2001, Lotringer co-edited the ironically titled ''Hatred of Capitalism: A Semiotext(e) Reader''. Released in the wake of the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

, the anthology strove to clarify Semiotext(e)'s composite vision of politics, intelligence and radical humor.Power, Nina
"Intelligence Agency,"
''Frieze'', 1 September 2009. Retrieved 7 October 2021. Summing up the Semiotext(e) self-styled mission, Lotringer used an observation made to him by filmmaker Jack Smith as an epigraph: "The world is starving for thoughts. If you can think of something, the language will fall into place, but the thought is what's going to do it".Kraus, Chris and Sylvère Lotringer
''Hatred of Capitalism : a Reader''
Los Angeles: Semiotext(e), 2001. Retrieved 7 October 2021. Realizing that the Foreign Agents books of the 1980s were being absorbed within mainstream academe, Lotringer sought out new works that would address global politics from the perspective of activism. He commissioned Israeli journalist Amira Hass' award-winning ''Reporting From Ramallah'' (2003), and French military specialist Alain Joxe's ''Empire of Disorder'' (2002) for Semiotext(e). Resuming his dialogue with Paul Virilio in ''Crepuscular Dawn'' (2002), he pushed the philosopher to elaborate on the historical antecedents and repercussions of

genetic engineering Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification or genetic manipulation, is the modification and manipulation of an organism's genes using technology. It is a set of Genetic engineering techniques, technologies used to change the genet ...

. His third dialogue with Virilio, ''Accident of Art'' (2006), expanded the Virilian notion of "accident" to encompass the impact of war on contemporary art. In 2006, he returned to his interest in Italian political theory, commissioning and publishing works by

Paolo Virno Paolo Virno (; ; born 14 May 1952) is an Italian philosopher, semiologist and a figurehead for the Italian Marxist movement. Implicated in belonging to illegal social movements during the 1960s and 1970s, Virno was arrested and jailed in 1979, ...

Franco Berardi Franco "Bifo" Berardi (born 2 November 1949) is an Italian Marxist philosopher, theorist and activist in the autonomist tradition, whose work mainly focuses on the role of the media and information technology within post-industrial capitalism. ...

, Christian Marazzi and

Antonio Negri Antonio Negri (; ; 1 August 1933 – 16 December 2023) was an Italian political philosopher known as one of the most prominent theorists of autonomism, as well as for his co-authorship of ''Empire (Hardt and Negri book), Empire'' with Michae ...

.Lotringer, Sylvère and Antonio Negri
"A Revolutionary Process Never Ends,"
''Artforum'', May 2008. Retrieved 7 October 2021.Lotringer, Sylvère
"The Great Refusal,"
''Artforum'', May 2008. Retrieved 7 October 2021.Smith, Jason
"A New Geometry: Paolo Virno and 'Autonomia,'"
''Artforum'', January 2008. Retrieved 7 October 2021.

Decorations

* Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters (2015)

Publications

"Barthes After Barthes,"
''Frieze'', 2011. * ''Pure War'', with Paul Virilio, Semiotext(e) History of the Present, Cambridge: 2008 (first published by Semiotext(e) Foreign Agents, New York: 1983). * ''Overexposed: Perverting Perversions'', Pantheon, New York: 1987 and Semiotext(e) History of the Present, Cambridge: 2007. * ''David Wojnarowitz: A Definitive History of Five or Six years on the Lower East Side,'' Cambridge: Semiotext(e), 2006 * "Forget Baudrillard," in ''Forget Foucault'', Semiotext(e) History of the Present, Cambridge: 2006. * ''Pazzi di Artaud'', Medusa, Milan: 2006. * ''The Accident of Art'', with Paul Virilio, Semiotext(e), Cambridge: 2005. * ''The Conspiracy of Art'', with Jean Baudrillard, Semiotext(e), Cambridge: 2005. * ''Oublier Artaud'', Sens and Tonka, Paris: 2005. * ''Boules de Suif'', Sens and Tonka, Paris: 2005. * "My '80s: Better Than Life," Artforum, April 2003. * ''Fous d’Artaud'', Sens and Tonka, Paris: 2003. * ''The Collected Interviews of William S. Burroughs'', Cambridge: Semiotext(e), 2002 * ''Crepuscular Dawn'', with Paul Virilio, Semiotext(e), Cambridge: 2002. * "Time Bomb," in ''Crepuscular Dawn'', Semiotext(e), Cambridge: 2002. * ''French Theory in America'', New York, Routledge: 2001 * ''Nancy Spero'', London: Phaedon Press: 1996. * ''Foreign Agent: Kuntz in den Zeiten des Theorie'', Merve Verlag, Berlin: 1992. * ''Germania'', with Heiner Müller, Semiotext(e), New York: 1990. * ''Antonin Artaud'', New York: Scribners & Sons: 1990. * ''Philosophen-Künstler'', Merve Verlag, Berlin: 1986. * "Uncle Fishook and the Sacred Baby Poo-poo of Art," with Jack Smith in ''SchizoCulture'', Semiotext(e) ed. III, 2, 1978.

References

External links

A Life in Theory: Sylvère Lotringer with Joan Waltemath
''The Brooklyn Rail'', 2006
From New York No Wave to Italian Autonomia: an Interview With Sylvère Lotringer
''Interventions'', 2014
Resisting No Matter What. A Conversation with Sylvère Lotringer
''Artpulse'', 2015
Bookforum talks with Sylvère Lotringer
''Bookforum'', 2015
Sylvère Lotringer interview
''purple MAGAZINE'', 2016
Sylvère Lotringer Interview
''The Third Rail'', 2016 * Sylvère Lotringe
Monogamy
This American Life.

WBEZ WBEZ (91.5 FM) – branded ''WBEZ 91.5'' – is a non-commercial educational radio station licensed to Chicago, Illinois, and primarily serving the tri-state region of the Chicago metropolitan area. It is owned by Chicago Public Media and is f ...

. Episode 95: Monogamy)
Antonin Artaud , Sylvère Lotringer; All Paranoiacs
Interview with Paule Thévenin, 2018
Mack Lecture: Sylvère Lotringer on Antonin Artaud
2015
Nietzsche in New York, Der französische Verleger Sylvère Lotringer
Profile, Jean-Claude Kuner, WDR /Deutschlandfunk, 2018
Jean Baudrillard, le cool prophète
various speakers incl. Sylvère Lotringer, 2014
''Verbrennungen der Angs''
von Jean-Claude Kuner, 2021, Hörspiel, SRF (play based on Lotringer’s interviews with Antonin Artaud’s psychiatrists) {{DEFAULTSORT:Lotringer, Sylvere 1938 births 2021 deaths Writers from Paris 20th-century French Jews University of Paris alumni Academic staff of European Graduate School French literary critics Postmodern theory French semioticians Jewish philosophers French male writers Officiers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres