Date: 27 Nov 95 15:20:40 EST
From: "Chris, London" <100423.2040-AT-compuserve.com>
Subject: Review of Gramsci New Selection


The latest issue of New Times, fortnightly paper of Democratic Left, 
in Britain, contains a review by Roger Simon of 

Antonio Gramsci: further selectionf from the Prison Notebooks
edited and translated by Derek Boothman, Lawrence and Wishart L45.00 sterling

Extracts from review:

"Why should we in the 1990's in Britain want to read these notes?
Part of the answer lies in the lessons we can derive from his method.
He was making a detailed reconnaissance of Italian society to discover
how its specific features differed from those of other countries. In 
doing this, he often uses a passage in a book or a periodical available
to him in prison as the point of departure for a note on a particular
subject. ...

"His contribution to Marxism is, I suggest, twofold. First, there are his
concepts of hegemony, civil society, war of position, and of intellectuals,
and of other concepts that have enriched the Marxist theory of politics. 
Second there is this method, which helped to create an open Marxism, 
free from any of the dogmatism which has disfigured it at different times
and places. Open in the sense of being continuously receptive to 
new social developments in all their significant detail and also to 
new ideas in other countries, other sciences, and among ideological 
opponents. So it is particularly valuable to have in this volume Gramsci's
notes on 'translatability' where he discusses such issues as relations
between different national cultures, or between French politics and German
philosophy. ...


John Cammett's bibiliography of writings on Gramsci currently lists around 
100,000 articles, university theses and books (about one in ten in English)
in 32 languages. The translation of the complete notebooks into English
exactly as they stand is now being undertaken by Joseph Buttigieg for 
Columbia University Press. The first of five volumes has already appeared,
but this great project will need many more years to complete. In any case,
this second selection will stand on its own as an invaluable 
source of Gramsci's thought."

Chris, London.


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