Jean Baudrillard

Paul Hegarty (University of Nottingham)

Ed. by Graham Allen, University College Cork
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.5.2.07: French Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary, 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Kate Averis (University of Western Australia), Hugo Azerad (University of Cambridge), Patrick ffrench (King's College London), Edward Forman (University of Bristol), Akane Kawakami (Birkbeck, University of London), Siobhán McIlvanney (King's College London), Sinan Richards (King's College London), Tim Unwin (University of Bristol), David Williams (University of Sheffield)

Dates

Born 27 Jul 1929
Died 6 Mar 2007
Activity 1966-2007

Places

Born in France
Active in France

Activities

Primary

Cultural Theorist/ Critic
Philosopher

Other

Photographer

Resources

Baudrillard's Works

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Born in Reims in 1929, Baudrillard began teaching languages in schools, and then moved into sociology, with a university post in 1966, at Nanterre. He stopped teaching full-time in the mid-1980s. His interest in contemporary culture and its productions have also led him, in later life, to be a photographer. He has often been associated with postmodernism, and even seen as its most radical exponent or advocate. If by postmodernism we mean merely the move beyond the belief that all thought can be grounded, then maybe this definition works, but any more detailed investigation reveals Baudrillard to be doing something quite different to others cited as postmodernists (Lyotard, Jameson). He himself is uninterested in the term, and is much more of a late modernist. The “postmodern scene” of…

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2904 words

Citation: Hegarty, Paul. "Jean Baudrillard". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 December 2005; last revised 07 April 2007. [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5172, accessed 19 December 2024.]