Phantom Communities: The Simulacrum and the Limits of Postmodernism

“Phantom Communities develops its arguments with a razor’s edge, and it has the gift of embracing ambivalence, contradiction, undecidability, and other forces with an uncommon sense of affirmation. This book will mark an enduring contribution to French studies in America.” —Tom Conley,Harvard University

Phantom Communities reconsiders the status of the simulacrum—sometimes defined as a copy of a copy, but more rigorously defined as a copy that subverts the legitimacy and authority of its model—in light of recent debates in literature, art, philosophy, and cultural studies.

Scott Durham is Assistant Professor of French at Northwestern University.