The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE reviews Sebastian, Four Mothers, Restless, and The Most Precious of Cargoes
Latest editorial
The fallacy of work worship
ALAN McGUIRE recommends a book that tries to shift our understanding of work and our relationship to it
spinoza
JOHN GREEN explores the argument that psychiatry needs to move away from the idea of just seeing and treating the individual
SYLVIA HIKINS applauds a polemic against “cleanfluencers” and considers radical alternatives to current inequalities of housework
RUTH AYLETT admires the blunt honesty with which a woman’s experience is recorded, but detects the unexamined privilege that underlies it
IAN SINCLAIR draws attention to the powerful role that literature plays in foreseeing the way humanity will deal with climate crisis
High quality pulp, rollicking online murders, Abnorman Britain, and high skates drama: reviews of The Get Off, Everyone In The Group Chat Dies, Pagans and First To Fall
DENNIS BROE notes what happens to content when the streaming giants incorporate AI and deregulation into their economic models
The Double Shift: Spinoza and Marx on the Politics of Work
by Jason Read
Verso, £16.99
THERE are trends in book genres, and trends in political theory are not exempt from this. The reading of Spinoza is an exception to the rule of cringey political theory. Marx himself read Spinosa, as did Louis Althusser, Mark Fisher and Antonio Negri.
His standing as one of the original materialists, his critique of liberals such as Hobbes and Locke and his charge against the dominant thought of religion of the day all make him a satisfactory companion to read alongside Marx.
More from this author
MICHAL BONCZA recommends a compact volume that charts the art of propagating ideas across the 20th century
MICHAL BONCZA reviews Cairokee gig at the London Barbican
MICHAL BONCZA rounds up a series of images designed to inspire women