Critical Theory and Marital Quarrels

Todor Hristov skillfully and rigorously leads us through the quotidian phenomenon of the marital quarrel, showing the revolutionary potential of taking each other’s noise seriously. In these increasingly contentious times, this book is an invitation into listening and a refreshingly original study of its ethical force. -- Margret Grebowicz, Missouri University of Science and Technology This is critical theory at its best: an endlessly inventive, impressively erudite, and painstakingly minute examination of a contentious region of social life that few philosophers have dared to tread until now. Anyone who wants to understand why we quarrel the way we do should read Hristov’s polemology of everyday life, which manages the remarkable balancing act of being both compassionate and deadpan funny. -- Alejandro Romero-Reche, University of Granada Through exquisitely rigorous discourse analysis, Hristov illuminates a genre of conflict that usually happens behind closed doors: the marital quarrel. While recognizing the socially situated nature of such encounters, this book’s primary focus is not anthropological. Rather, drawing on an impressive array of sources, both historical and modern, factual and fictional, Critical Theory and Marital Quarrels brilliantly illuminates the discursive relations and conditions from which squabbles arise. -- Clare Birchall, King's College London