The Misinterpellated Subject

"In this brilliant new theory of political agency, James R. Martel pushes a politics for the failed, flawed, and damaged people we actually are. Rejecting the heroism that binds us to authority, he looks to the ones who show up, unexpected and unwanted. Through original readings of Althusser, Fanon, and others, Martel strips politics of all guarantees. Freedom is possible, if we want it." - Jodi Dean author of Crowds and Party

"James R. Martel has a flair for finding the minor character, the neglected detail, and the unexpected avenue in texts that have been read and subjected to a great deal of political and literary criticism for decades. His political commitment allows him to wrest brilliant new meanings and readings from works by Melville, Woolf, Kafka, and others we thought we knew. There is no one better than Martel today who politicizes literature and reanimates it for political thinking. The Misinterpellated Subject is a major contribution." - Bonnie Honig, author of Public Things and Antigone, Interrupted

"With its rich and provocative readings of diverse events and texts, Martel’s book would deserve wide-ranging praise simply for being a master-class in literary interpretation, but it goes much further in introducing and carefully developing a convincing theory of misinterpellation." - Smita A. Rahman, Theory & Event

“James Martel has given us a fine, well-written, and inspiring book, and I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone interested in subjectivity, ideology, recognition, representation, and resistance.” - Lasse Thomassen, Political Theory

"A work of great interest. . . . Althusser taught us to judge books by their theoretical and practical effects. The effect of James Martel’s The Misinterpellated Subject is to show that confronting the problem of subjection, and Althusser’s reflections on it, remains an unavoidable, even urgent, task." - Warren Montag, Postmodern Culture