Zygmunt Bauman was one of the most important social theorists of recent decades. He did major work on the Holocaust, the postmodern and much else, up to fifty-eight books in English on almost as many topics. In this book, Australian sociologist Peter Beilharz, Bauman's collaborator for thirty years, recounts the details of their relationship, simultaneously charting the changes that have occurred in academic life from the 1980s to today.
Friendship was one of the bonds that made Bauman and Beilharz's intellectual collaboration possible. Though the two were worlds apart in terms of biography and place, their work together was defined by a certain kind of intimacy. Separated by a generation, they collaborated for a generation together. This book follows their story in touching detail while puzzling over Bauman's rich yet contested legacy. -
By:
Peter Beilharz
Imprint: Manchester University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 216mm,
Width: 138mm,
Spine: 17mm
Weight: 454g
ISBN: 9781526132154
ISBN 10: 152613215X
Pages: 240
Publication Date: 01 January 2021
Audience:
General/trade
,
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
ELT Advanced
,
Primary
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Beginning Part I: Itineraries and archives 1 First decade 2 Second decade 3 Third decade Part II: Ways of going on 4 Entanglements 5 Heads up from giants Part III: Talking the days 6 Working together, at a distance 7 Last decade: Bauman writing, reading and talking 8 The 'Bauman phenomenon': signing out Ending Acknowledgements Bibliography Index -- .
Peter Beilharz is Professor of Culture and Society at Curtin University and Professor of Critical Theory at Sichuan University. He is the author of more than a dozen books and a founding editor of the journal Thesis Eleven.
Reviews for Intimacy in Postmodern Times: A Friendship with Zygmunt Bauman
'As sociological data - as a record of how academic intellectuals at the turn of the century spent their time - Peter Beilharz's memoir is valuable enough; but it is also a searching exploration of his debt to one of the great social theorists of our age, Zygmunt Bauman.' J. M. Coetzee 'With Beilharz and Bauman as central performers, the tale told within these pages concerns how academic relationships are made and sustained either side of the internet revolution. It matters little, however, whether we know anything of our performers before the curtain raises - for upon this stage awaits a story of intellectual life fuelled by far more universal ideas of inspiration, admiration, labour, friendship, gain and loss.' Mark Davis, Director of the Bauman Institute for Critical Sociology, University of Leeds -- .
