José Guilherme Merquior
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| Full name | José Guilherme Merquior |
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| Born | April 22, 1941 |
| Died | January 7, 1991 (aged 49) |
| Era | 20th-century philosophy |
| Region | Western Philosophy |
| School | Liberalism |
| Main interests | Literary criticism, History of ideas, Aesthetics, Politics, Sociology, International relations |
José Guilherme Merquior (Rio de Janeiro, April 22, 1941 — Rio de Janeiro, January 7, 1991) was a Brazilian diplomat, academic, writer, literary critic and philosopher.
[edit] Biography
He was a prolific writer, and member of the Academia Brasileira de Letras (the Brazilian Academy of Letters). He had a doctorate in sociology from the London School of Economics, which was directed by Ernest Gellner. Merquior also studied under Lévi-Strauss (whose ideas Merquior would largely repudiate in From Prague to Paris), and took guidance from the likes of Raymond Aron, Harry Levin, and Arnaldo Momigliano. He published books written directly in French, English, Italian, and his native Portuguese.
Merquior divided his published works in two segments. In one the bulk was criticism per se; in the other the emphasis was the history of ideas, or more specific investigations like the highly-esteemed study of Rousseau and Weber. Two of Merquior's books, a history of Western Marxism and an often scathing critique of Michel Foucault for the Fontana Modern Masters series, were described as "minor classics" by scholar Gregory R. Johnson.[1] Merquor's Foucault was also an important reference for Camille Paglia's lengthy essay "Junk Bonds and Corporate Raiders: Academe in the Hour of the Wolf,"[2] wherein Paglia describes what she sees as serious problems in the academic humanities.
Merquior was a major supporter of the Fernando Collor de Mello government and wrote many of Collor's public speeches.
[edit] Books by Merquior
- Published in Portuguese
- 1963: Poesia do Brasil, (antologia com Manuel Bandeira)
- 1965: Razão do Poema
- 1969: Arte e Sociedade em Marcuse, Adorno e Benjamin
- 1972: A astúcia da mímese
- 1972: Saudades do Carnaval
- 1974: Formalismo e tradição moderna
- 1975: O estruturalismo dos pobres e outras questões
- 1975: A estética de Lévi-Strauss
- 1976: Verso e universo de Drummond
- 1977: De Anchieta a Euclides
- 1980: O fantasma romântico e outros ensaios
- 1981: As idéias e as formas
- 1982: A natureza do processo
- 1983: O argumento liberal
- 1983: O elixir do Apocalipse
- 1985: Michel Foucault ou O niilismo da cátedra
- 1987: O marxismo ocidental
- 1990: Crítica
- 1990: Rousseau e Weber: dois estudos sobre a teoria da legitimidade
- 1991: De Praga a Paris: uma crítica do estruturalismo e do pensamento pós-estruturalista
- 1991: O liberalismo, antigo e moderno
- 1997: O véu e a máscara
- Published in English
- 1979: The veil and the mask: Essays on culture and ideology
- 1980: Rousseau and Weber: Two studies in the theory of legitimacy
- 1985: Foucault (Fontana Modern Masters)
- 1987: From Prague to Paris: A Critique of Structuralist and Post-Structuralist Thought
- 1991: Western Marxism
- 1991: Liberalism, Old and New
- 1991: Foucault
- Published in French
- 1986: Foucault ou le nihilisme de la chaire
- Published in Spanish
- 1996 Liberalismo Viejo y Nuevo
- 2005 El Comportamiento de Las Musas
- In memoriam
- 1996 Liberalism in Modern Times - Essays in Honour of José G. Merquior. Edited by Ernest Gellner and César Cansino
[edit] References
- ^ Johnson, Gregory R. "Without Sense or Reference", review of Merquior's From Prague to Paris: A Critique of Structuralist and Post-Structuralist Thought.
- ^ First published in the Spring 1991 Arion, and reprinted in Paglia's Sex, Art, and American Culture: Essays (1992, Vintage, ISBN 0679741011).
