Traverso’s Latest Book “Left-Wing Melancholia” Published

January 6th, 2017

Enzo Traverso, the Susan and Barton Winokur Professor in the Humanities, has published his most recent book entitled Left-Wing Melancholia this month with Columbia University Press. According to the publisher, Traverso “explores the varying nature of left melancholy as it has manifested in a feeling of guilt for not sufficiently challenging authority, in a fear of surrendering in disarray and resignation, in mourning the human costs of the past, and in a sense of failure for not realizing utopian aspirations. Yet hidden within this melancholic tradition are the resources for a renewed challenge to prevailing regimes of historicity, a passion that has the power to reignite the dialectic of revolutionary thought.” The book is described as “a path breaking work that combines history and political theory with a concise, richly analytical, exciting narrative” by reviewer Federico Finchelstein, The New School for Social Research. Left-Wing Melancholia is currently available in English, French, and Italian, with Spanish and Greek translations forthcoming next year.

To read more about Left-Wing Melancholia, visit the publisher’s site here. Follow this link to read Le Monde’s interview with Professor Traverso in December 2016.