Deconstructing Postmodernist Nietzscheanism

“Jan Rehmann is one of the last grand Critical Theorists rooted in the best of the sophisticated and flexible Marxist tradition. This powerful and persuasive critique of Postmodernist Nietzscheanism opens the door to more potent forms of counterhegemony in our time!”—Cornel West, Union Theological Seminary, New York“Jan Rehmann’s book does something urgent and very difficult: it explores the readings of Nietzsche that subtend Deleuze’s and Foucault’s influential theorisations and asks critically about the consequences of their systematic erasure of the darker, less ‘innocent’ sides of Nietzsche’s writings. Rehmann does so by traversing an immense canon of literature from the French, German and Anglophone context with admirable wit, clarity and nuance - and thereby shows us how philosophy as critical theory can be done in our current theoretical conjuncture.”—Svenja Bromberg, Goldsmiths University, London“In his eye-opening book, Jan Rehmann offers us a fascinating account of how one of the most elitist and anti-democratic opponents of modernity was elevated as a nomadic rebel and promoted as an alternative to Marxism and socialism. Rehmann’s careful study is therefore more than just a story about French intellectuals. It provides us with a critical history of the most significant intellectual shift of the post war period: postmodernism.”—Daniel Zamora Vargas, Université Libre de Bruxelles

Jan Rehmann is co-editor of Das Argument and of the Historical-Critical Dictionary of Marxism (HKWM). He has published (among others), Theories of Ideology: The Powers of Alienation and Subjection.