Plato's Republic

<p> I strongly recommend reading Badiou's amusing, erudite, and intelligent book. Consciousness, Literature and the Arts Badiou's translation of Plato follows the ancient habit of pre-copyright times: it freely changes the original to make it fit to contemporary conditions. So instead of sophists we get corrupted journalists, instead of soul we get the subject, and instead of Plato s critique of democracy we get... well, a critique of today s democracy. The result is a resounding triumph: Plato comes fully alive as our contemporary, as someone who directly addresses our issues. This, not aseptic scholarly work, is the mark of a true fidelity to our past. Slavoj Zizek <p> Here is something really remarkable: a complete re-imagining of the founding text of philosophy This book calls itself a hyper-translation, but it is also a repetition with a difference, an utterly contemporary transposition and even sublimation of Plato's Republic. <p>It is always our task to breathe life into the ancients. They feed on our blood. Badiou shows himself a master of vampirism. Simon Critchley, New School for Social Research, New York <p> What Badiou s translation of Plato leaves us with is a resounding passion for the truth. It leaves us with a rare sense that politics can once again be associated with courage and justice, and that we have an agency at our disposal that comes in the passionate work of bringing the idea of equality (communism) into existence. Berfrois