A review by emilyclairem
Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection by Julia Kristeva

4.0

The notion of abjection is absolutely brilliant and, since being introduced to it, I see it everywhere. This book certainly formed my ideas on it and there are several moments of brilliance contained within it. There were definitely some things I could have done without, namely the analysis of Céline's works. I found that unhelpful and a bit pointless, and mostly skimmed it. I also sometimes found her writing style frustrating - the amount of commas! She feels the need to clarify almost every word she uses. Or: she, meaning Kristeva, feels, that is, experiences an emotion or desire, the need, and not a want, but a need, to clarify, to explain, to elucidate, almost, and by almost I of course mean not all, every word, or turn of phrase, that she uses, or, rather, writes. See how frustrating that is!!! I understand that that's the way of theorists but it's so frustrating to extract her meaning sometimes.
Despite those frustrations, I love the theory of abjection and her work on it is incredibly important.