Alice Jardine (Harvard) At the risk of thinking: An Intellectual biography of Julia Kristeva At the Risk of Thinking is the first biography of Julia Kristeva--one of the most celebrated intellectuals in the world. Alice Jardine brings Kristeva's work to a broader readership by connecting Kristeva's personal journey, from her childhood in Communist Bulgaria to her adult life as an international public intellectual based in Paris, with the history of her ideas. Informed by extensive interviews with Kristeva herself, this telling of a remarkable woman's life story also draws out the complexities of Kristeva's writing, emphasizing her call for an urgent revival of bold interdisciplinary thinking in order to understand--and to act in--today's world.   Review theguardian.com/books/2020/apr/22/at-the-risk-of-thinking-by-alice-jardine-review-biography-of-a-feminist-intellectual About the Author Alice Jardine is Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures and of Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality at Harvard University, USA. Her publications include The Future of Difference (1980), Gynésis: Configurations of Woman and Modernity (1985), Living Attention: On Teresa Brennan (2007), and, as translator, Julia Kristeva's Desire in Language: A Semiotic Approach to Literature and Art (ed. Leon Roudiez, trans. Thomas Gora, Alice Jardine and Leon Roudiez, 1980). Mari Ruti (PhD, Harvard University) is Distinguished Professor of Critical Theory and of Gender and Sexuality Studies at the University of Toronto, Canada. She is the author of thirteen books: Reinventing the Soul: Posthumanist Theory and Psychic Life (2006); A World of Fragile Things: Psychoanalysis and the Art of Living (2009); The Summons of Love (2011); The Case for Falling in Love (2011); The Singularity of Being: Lacan and the Immortal Within (2012); The Call of Character (2013); Between Levinas and Lacan: Self, Other, Ethics (Bloomsbury, 2015); The Age of Scientific Sexism (Bloomsbury, 2015); Feminist Film Theory and Pretty Woman (Bloomsbury, 2016); The Ethics of Opting Out: Queer Theory's Defiant Subjects (2017); Penis Envy and Other Bad Feelings: The Emotional Costs of Everyday Life (2018); Distillations: Theory, Ethics, Affect (Bloomsbury, 2018); and Critical Theory Between Klein and Lacan: A Dialogue - with Amy Allen (Bloomsbury, 2019).   Transcript   August Baker: This is August Baker. Today I have the great privilege to be speaking with Professor Alice Jardine. Alice is a professor at Harvard University. She's worked in the forefront of critical thought since the '80s, wide ranging work. Prominent are issues of women, gender, and sexuality, and the analysis of politics, culture, and society. Today we're speaking with Professor Jardine about her recent book, which is the first biography of another public intellectual, specifically the inimitable Julia Kristeva. The book is called At the Risk of Thinking: An Intellectual Biography of Julia Kristeva. One of the endorsements for the book was by Noel McCaffey, and I thought it captured Alice's book very well. McCaffey said, "With a light and magical touch, Alice Jardine narrates the story of Julia Kristeva's journey from the Black Sea to the Atlantic, to the expanse of human singularity. In her intimate account Jardine shows how Kristeva became one of the most extraordinary intellectuals of our era. For every reader, here is a story that will inspire us all to think more deeply, to revolt against preconceptions, and to become our own force in creating the meaning of our lives." That's the end of the quote. I thought that was beautifully said and very true, was an inspiring book for me to read. The book has been very well-received, including winning 2021 Choice Outstanding Academic Title. Welcome, Alice.   Alice Jardine: Hello, August. Thank you for inviting me. I'm thrilled to be here.   August Baker: We are speaking on March 29th, 2022, and about a month ago, Russia invaded Ukraine. One of the things yo