Professor Bonnie HonigCambridge University Press, 5/2/2013EAN 9781107036970, ISBN10: 1107036976Hardcover, 340 pages, 23.5 x 15.7 x 2.2 cmLanguage: EnglishSophocles' Antigone is a touchstone in democratic, feminist and legal theory, and possibly the most commented upon play in the history of philosophy and political theory. Bonnie Honig's rereading of it therefore involves intervening in a host of literatures and unsettling many of their governing assumptions. Exploring the power of Antigone in a variety of political, cultural, and theoretical settings, Honig identifies the 'Antigone-effect' - which moves those who enlist Antigone for their politics from activism into lamentation. She argues that Antigone's own lamentations can be seen not just as signs of dissidence but rather as markers of a rival world view with its own sovereignty and vitality. Honig argues that the play does not offer simply a model for resistance politics or 'equal dignity in death', but a more positive politics of counter-sovereignty and solidarity which emphasizes equality in life.PrefaceIntroductionPart I. InterruptionIntroduction to Part I1. Tragedy, maternalism, ethicstoward an agonistic humanism2. 'Antigone versus Oedipus', Ifeminist theory and the turn to Antigone3. 'Antigone versus Oedipus', IIthe directors' agon in Germany in AutumnPart II. ConspiracyIntroduction to Part II4. Mourning, membership, and the politics of exceptionplotting Creon's conspiracy with democracy5. From lamentation to logosAntigone's conspiracy with language6. Sacrifice, sorority, integrityAntigone's conspiracy with IsmeneConclusion.
