The Black Circle: A Life of Alexandre Kojève

375 Pages·2018·3.38 MB·English

by  Jeff Love

THE BLACK CIRCLE
Alexandre Kojève, Boulogne-sur-Seine, July 6, 1930. Anonymous photo. Bibliothèque
nationale de France, Fonds Kojève.
THE BLACK CIRCLE
A L I F E O F A L E X A N D R E KOJ È V E
JEFF LOVE
Columbia University Press
New York
Columbia University Press
Publishers Since 1893
New York Chichester, West Sussex
cup .columbia .edu
Copyright © 2018 Columbia University Press
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Love, Jeff (G. Jeffrey), author.
Title: The black circle : a life of Alexandre Kojève / Jeff Love.
Description: New York : Columbia University Press, 2018. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018007435 | ISBN 9780231186568 (cloth : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9780231546706 (e- book)
Subjects: LCSH: Kojève, Alexandre, 1902– 1968. |
Philosophers— France— Biography.
Classification: LCC B2430.K654 L68 2018 | DDC 194— dc23
LC record available at https: //lccn .loc .gov /2018007435
Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent
and durable acid-f ree paper.
Printed in the United States of America
Cover design: Julia Kushnirsky
Cover image: Black Circle by Kazimir Malevich © State Russian Museum
FOR GLORIA, JACK, DYLAN, AND GARRETT
•

CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
List of Abbreviations xi
INTRODUCTION: A RUSSIAN IN PARIS(cid:2)1
I. RUSSIAN CONTEXTS
1. MADMEN(cid:2)17
2. THE POSSESSED(cid:2)44
3. GODMEN(cid:2)70
II. THE HEGEL LECTURES
4. THE LAST REVOLUTION(cid:2)103
5. TIME NO MORE(cid:2)132
6. THE BOOK OF THE DEAD(cid:2)161
VIII(cid:2)CONTENTS
III. THE LATER WRITINGS
7. NOBODIES(cid:2)193
8. ROADS OR RUINS?(cid:2)213
9. WHY FINALITY?(cid:2)257
EPILOGUE: THE GRAND INQUISITOR(cid:2)279
Notes 291
Bibliography 335
Index 347
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
T
his project began with a seminar on historical narrative that took
place in Beijing during the summer of 2013. I owe a debt of thanks
to the organizer of that seminar, my colleague Yanming An. I also
wish to thank the resourceful staff at the National Humanities Center,
where I spent a year (2014– 2015) as a John E. Sawyer Fellow and managed
to complete an initial draft of the book in the ideal working conditions
created by the Center. Vladimir Alexandrov, Caryl Emerson, Michael
Forster, Markus Gabriel, Ilya Kliger, Nina Kousnetzoff, Bill Maker, Donna
Orwin, Lina Steiner, and William Mills Todd were all instrumental at
various stages in the project, as were Jon and Nancy Love. Finally, I have
benefitted a great deal from the unflagging encouragement of António
Lobo Antunes as well as from the many astute comments and questions
of my colleague and serial collaborator, Michael Meng. The latter have left
their impression on virtually every page of this book.
Wendy Lochner has been an ideal editor— patient, thorough, and gen-
erous with her time.
R
I have used available English translations for material quoted in other
languages throughout the book and have frequently modified them.