{"title":"Simon Critchley","description":"\u003cp\u003eSimon Critchley’s work navigates the complex intersections of \u003cem\u003ephilosophy\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003epsychology\u003c\/em\u003e, and cultural inquiry, offering profound reflections on human existence, identity, and tragedy. His writing blends rigorous thought with engaging explorations of topics ranging from ancient Greek philosophy to contemporary figures such as David Bowie.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eReaders can expect a collection rich with philosophical insight, personal meditation, and cultural critique. Critchley’s books invite contemplation on the nature of self, memory, and the mystical, often framed through both historical perspectives and intimate memoir-like narratives.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"on-bowie-by-simon-critchley-9781781257456","title":"On Bowie","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat made Bowie special? What made him the cultural icon he is today? And what made millions of people around the world tune into his peculiar wavelength and find exactly what they'd been looking for all along?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThese are the questions asked by Simon Critchley in this keen-eyed, moving, and textured tribute to Bowie. Each of the two dozen deceptively short chapters looks at Bowie from a new angle, slowly unfolding the enigma that was his artistic life into a celebration of what made him unique. From the author's earliest childhood exposure to the bizarre musical and sexual contours of Ziggy Stardust right through to the supernova glow of \u003cem\u003eBlackstar\u003c\/em\u003e, and covering everything in between, Critchley traces the development of Bowie's music and lyrics to tell the story of how he tapped into the zeitgeist - and into our hearts.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eGrowing up in working-class suburban England, the young Critchley was instantly drawn to this creature from another planet, 'so sexual, so knowing, so strange'. Now a celebrated philosopher whom Jonathan Lethem has called 'a figure of quite startling brilliance', Critchley draws on a plethora of cultural and philosophical touchpoints, as well as his own intensely personal response to the music, to paint an essential portrait of Bowie as songwriter, poet, performer, and icon.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46550322872556,"sku":"9781781257456","price":26.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/5275183482822.jpg?v=1749971177"},{"product_id":"bald-by-simon-critchley-9780300255966","title":"Bald","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA genial exercise in public philosophy\u003c\/strong\u003e (\u003cem\u003eKirkus\u003c\/em\u003e, starred review) from one of the world's best-known popular philosophers.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSimon Critchley is an international treasure—that rare and real philosopher who embraces Rousseau’s ‘feeling of existence,’ David Bowie’s vision of love, and Philip K. Dick’s genius with genuine wrestling and a soulful smile!\u003c\/strong\u003e —Cornel West, Harvard University\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe moderator of the \u003cem\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/em\u003e’ Stone column and the author of numerous books on everything from Greek tragedy to David Bowie, Simon Critchley has been a strong voice in popular philosophy for more than a decade. This volume brings together thirty-five essays, originally published in the \u003cem\u003eTimes\u003c\/em\u003e, on a wide range of topics, from the dimensions of Plato’s academy and the mysteries of Eleusis to Philip K. Dick, Mormonism, money, and the joy and pain of Liverpool Football Club fans.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn an engaging and jargon-free style, Critchley writes with honesty about the state of the world as he offers philosophically informed and insightful considerations of happiness, violence, and faith.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eStripped of inaccessible academic armatures, these short pieces bring philosophy out of the ivory tower and demonstrate an exciting new way to think in public.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47000552014060,"sku":"9780300255966","price":44.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/24557403482294.jpg?v=1763283935"},{"product_id":"tragedy-the-greeks-and-us-by-simon-critchley-9781788161480","title":"Tragedy, the Greeks and Us","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe might think we are through with the past, but the past isn't through with us. \u003cem\u003eTragedy\u003c\/em\u003e permits us to come face to face with the things we don't want to know about ourselves, but which still make us who we are. It articulates the conflicts and contradictions that we need to address in order to better understand the world we live in.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA work honed from a decade's teaching at the New School, where 'Critchley on Tragedy' is one of the most popular courses, \u003cem\u003eTragedy, the Greeks and Us\u003c\/em\u003e is a compelling examination of the history of tragedy. Simon Critchley demolishes our common misconceptions about the poets, dramatists and philosophers of Ancient Greece – then presents these writers to us in an unfamiliar and original light.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47000829919468,"sku":"9781788161480","price":27.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/18143843482824.jpg?v=1763308422"},{"product_id":"i-want-to-die-i-hate-my-life-by-simon-critchley-9781916809710","title":"I Want to Die, I Hate My Life","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“There is a common fallacy that is oddly and sadly even more widespread amongst non-philosophers than philosophers, that art is somehow explained by philosophy. It is not.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe philosopher Simon Critchley has long been drawn to the distinctive questions raised by tragedy. In this major new work, conceived as a sequel to his \u003cem\u003eTragedy, the Greeks and Us\u003c\/em\u003e (2019), he describes the power of tragic drama as deriving from its depictions of 'stuckness': of the inescapable situation of being oneself. In readings of Jean Racine, Henrik Ibsen, and Samuel Beckett, Critchley offers an exceptionally perceptive account of how tragedy dramatises this irreducibly absurd condition.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eI Want to Die, I Hate My Life\u003c\/i\u003e is at once a searching philosophical engagement with tragedy and a bracing argument against the widespread tendency to reduce literary texts to mere illustrations of philosophical ideas. Critchley's exposition of the ambiguities that lie at the heart of tragic drama—of tragedy's resistance to the kind of rational explanations that philosophers have sought to impose upon it—doesn't just enhance our understanding of literature; it also points towards a wiser, more subtle, and more dynamic way of doing philosophy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47486140907756,"sku":"9781916809710","price":45.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/b5014151142c22e14e066e4671c9f280.jpg?v=1775780134"},{"product_id":"memory-theatre-by-simon-critchley-9780992974718","title":"Memory Theatre","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA French philosopher dies during a savage summer heat wave. Boxes carrying his unpublished miscellany mysteriously appear in Simon Critchley's office. Rooting through piles of papers, Critchley discovers a brilliant text on the ancient art of memory and a cache of astrological charts predicting the deaths of various philosophers. Among them is a chart for Critchley himself, laying out in great detail the course of his life and eventual demise.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBecoming obsessed with the details of his fate, Critchley receives the missing, final box, which contains a maquette of Giulio Camillo's sixteenth-century Venetian memory theatre, a space supposed to contain the sum of all knowledge. That's when the hallucinations begin.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eMemory Theatre\u003c\/i\u003e is a brilliant one-of-a-kind mind game occupying a strange frontier between philosophy, memoir and fiction. Simon Critchley beguiles as he illuminates.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e- David Mitchell, author of \u003ci\u003eCloud Atlas\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47536770613484,"sku":"9780992974718","price":27.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/33f3f47aec71ec34d50d83be329a9c18.jpg?v=1777949014"},{"product_id":"on-mysticism-by-simon-critchley-9781800816947","title":"On Mysticism","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMysticism is about existential ecstasy—an experience of heightening one's senses and self into a sheer feeling of aliveness. Mystical experiences offer us a practical way to open our thoughts and deepen the sense of our lives, whether through a mainstream connection to God or by taking part in mind-altering experiences.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHere, Simon Critchley explores the history and practice of mysticism, from its origins in Eastern and Western religion, through its association with esoteric and occult knowledge, and up to the ecstatic modernism of T.S. Eliot and others. Through a discussion of the lives of famous mystics, like Julian of Norwich and Jesus Christ, Critchley reveals how embracing the spectrum of mystical experience can refresh our thinking and help us live deeper and freer lives.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePhilosophical and playful, analytical and inventive, \u003cem\u003eOn Mysticism\u003c\/em\u003e is a definitive account of humanity's quest to understand the divine, and a call to thinkers everywhere to broaden our minds to life larger than ourselves.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47932350398700,"sku":"9781800816947","price":29.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781800816947-on-mysticism.jpg?v=1783860710"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.pro\/collections\/simon-critchley.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}