5 estante atrás

Jean Baudrillard gets better with every word. No one has ever clarified seduction with such refinement and eloquence.“For nothing can be greater than seduction, than seduction itself; not even the order that destroys it".

Baudrillard in this text pose a challenge to the psychoanalytical question of anatomy (human body) being the destiny with the liberation of sex. Seduction has always being categorized as an enthralling act conclusive to sex; a feminine forte. If so, then how do red roses when articulately placed in a bouquet look alluring? Seduction as Baudrillard points out is a game of ritual and simulation which governs politics, social life, culture, sex and even death. Seduction is immortal, a mind game played with no rules but with sheer accuracy which charms, captures and entice the innermost vulnerability leading to its collapse. It is a mystifying illusion that conceals truth creating a superfluous and deceiving environment.

With references to Kierkegaard’s ‘Diary of a Seducer’, stereo- pornography, Japanese vaginal cyclorama and other overtly displays of sexual pleasures; Baudrillard emphasis that acts of sex, fetishes and obsessions lead to the death of seduction mutating a malicious form of perversion.

This is a brilliant book which prophecies that even though today seduction thrives in the remains of the shadows, it will rise like a phoenix and become man’s inescapable destiny. True to its title; I could not let go of the book even after reading the last word.
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A challenging, puzzling, and frequently infuriating work. At his worst, Baudrillard condescends to his readership (particularly women), thoughtlessly dismisses the whole concept of feminism, and indulges in baggy, imprecise theory. At his best... there are some truly exciting ideas here. And it's not as anti-feminist as it appears at first glance, so much as a demand to rethink feminism down to the very foundations. The idea of seduction as the triumph of artifice over the "real" is powerful and useful, but I think Baudrillard would have been better off if he had divorced the concept of seduction from femininity. I never really bought that connection.

The whole book does become much more amusing when read as sort of playful, provoking love letter to Luce Irigaray. ( )