Summary: Publisher Summary 1 "Fredric Jameson is America's leading Marxist critic. A prodigiously energetic thinker whose writings sweep majestically from Sophocles to science fiction."-Terry Eagleton "Probably the most important cultural critic writing in English today...It can be truly said that nothing cultural is alien to him."-Colin MacCabe "Fredric Jameson preserved and extended the legacy of Marxism for a generation of intellectuals."-Benjamin Kunkel, London Review of Books In this major new study, philosopher and cultural theorist Fredric Jameson offers an innovative reading of a book that forms part of the bedrock of modern Western thought Hegers Phenomenology of Spirit. Whereas other writers have interpreted the Phenomenology as a rigidly dosed system, Jameson discovers it to be a more fluid, open-ended work. Hegel's mind is revealed to be a less systematic mechanism than normally thought, one whose ideas never solidify into pure abstractions. The conclusion of the Phenomenology, on the aftermath of the French Revolution, is examined as a provisional stalemate between the political and the social霉a situation from which Jameson draws important lessons for our own age.   Publisher Summary 2 Jameson (comparative literature, Duke U.), who is esteemed for his works of literary theory, offers a critical analysis of the influential work by Hegel. Situating Hegel's essay against the background of Kant, Jameson keeps a tight focus on the concept of Geist, or Spirit, so central to the essay, relating Hegel's use of the term to his development of the concept of history. The richness of Jameson's analysis is spellbinding, leading readers through a close reading of Hegel's essay to demonstrate Hegel's thoughts on language and culture, and the implications from his writing on the French Revolution to fascism, imperialism, and ultimately, globalization. Quotations are presented at length, in English followed by the original German. Annotation 漏2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)   Publisher Summary 3 In this major new study, philosopher and cultural theorist Fredric Jameson offers an innovative reading of a book that forms part of the bedrock of modern Western thought: Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit. Whereas other writers have interpreted the Phenomenologyas a rigidly closed system, Jameson discovers it to be a more fluid, open-ended work. Hegel's mind is revealed to be a less systematic mechanism than normally thought, one whose ideas never solidify into pure abstractions. The conclusion of the Phenomenology, on the aftermath of the French Revolution, is examined as a provisional stalemate between the political and the social-a situation from which Jameson draws important lessons for our own age.   Publisher Summary 4 The master philosopher and cultural theorist tackles the founder of modern dialectics.