We live tweet events so why don't we live blog our books? They may last longer than a Premier League match or election night special, but we read them continuously and their covers bound a discrete event. During their course our support veers between characters or new facts prompt us to change intellectual direction. They ebb and flow like all tweet worthy events.
Like most academic introductions, this went on as expected with the setting of limits and a conceptual framework. Which is where I fell for Piketty. It wasn't just his put down of math obsessed economists in favour of those who recognize the discipline's ties to politics and history (à la Keynes who remains notably absent). It was his clarion call for interdisciplinarity. Which is entirely believable - so many academics just nod to it out of politeness - given his admiration for Lucien Febvre and Fernand Braudel. Eminent historians both of the Annales school.
And did I mention the translator? He was translator to the later Annales members.
So, I get where M. Piketty comes from. I've spent time in his world. It's a great place.
No comments:
Post a Comment