William Clare Roberts, "Marx's Inferno: The Political Theory of Capital"

Session Submission Type: Author meet critics

Session Description

William Clare Roberts’s “Marx’s Inferno: The Political Theory of Capital” (Princeton University Press, 2017) is a major contribution to Marxist theory, the history of political thought, and republican theories of freedom. Winner of the prestigious 2017 Deutscher Memorial Prize, awarded for the “best and most innovative new writing in or about the Marxist tradition,” Marx’s Inferno is an exceptional book for a scholar at any career stage and even more so for a first book by a junior scholar. Roberts presents a sharp, original and controversial reading of the first volume of Capital. He argues that Capital contains a political theory; he insists that its literary structure is based on Dante’s Inferno; and he reads Marx as defending a republican conception of freedom. These are just some of the highlights. The book is incisive, rich, pithy, and the prose is beautifully crafted. It has been favorably reviewed in various outlets and has already given rise to debates, for example in the pages of Jacobin, where David Harvey penned a 5,000 word review. In short, the book is an event and will likely make a lasting impact in the field of political theory. This roundtable brings together an impressive group of accomplished scholars at various career stages from political theory and philosophy with expertise on Marx and Marxism, republicanism, and critical theory.

Sub Unit

• DIVISION 2: Foundations of Political Theory

Cosponsor

• DIVISION 1: Political Thought and Philosophy: Historical Approaches

Chair

• Yves Winter McGill University

Presenters

• Robyn Marasco CUNY, Hunter College

• David Watkins University of Dayton

• Margaret Kohn University of Toronto

• Vanessa Christina Wills The George Washington University

• William Clare Roberts McGill University

• Terrell Carver University of Bristol