"Focusing on the notion of the 'masquerade,' as developed by Joan Riviere, and working within the framework of Julia Kristeva's psychoanalytic theory, Norma Claire Moruzzi offers a highly original and very provocative reading of Arendt's major works. Anybody interested in political theory, feminist criticism, and Jewish studies will have to take note of this book."
"Every page of Speaking through the Mask is instructive and thought-provoking. This is not just a highly original reading of Hannah Arendt, but also a profoundly moving and useful meditation on the recurrent dangers and temptations of essentialized notions of race, ethnicity, nation, and gender."
"Speaking through the Mask is a thoughtful, closely reasoned work. . . It succeeds as a thoroughgoing feminist reading of Arendt, written as much to show how feminist theory challenges Arendt's blind spots as to illustrate what Arendt has to teach feminism. . . This is an original and important book, one that manages at once to talk back to Hannah Arendt and to make it plain why so many feminists are talking about her."—Lisa J. Disch, University of Minnesota. The Journal of Politics, Vol. 64, No. 2, May 2002
". . . complex and interesting. . . "—Choice, November 2001, Vol. 39, No. 3
"Moruzzi provides a compelling case for using feminist psychoanalytic insights to enrich Arendt's concept of political agency."—Patricia Moynagh, Women and Politics, 25:1,2—2003.
"Norma Claire Moruzzi's recent book contributes significantly to the emergent and increasingly sophisticated literature on Hannah Arendt. . . . Speaking Through the Mask is to be commended for its originality, for the author's theoretical lens offers a viable counter to Arendt's dismissal of the social realm."—Mary Caputi, California State University, American Political Science Association, March 2003
"Every page of Speaking through the Mask is instructive and thought-provoking. This is not just a highly original reading of Hannah Arendt, but also a profoundly moving and useful meditation on the recurrent dangers and temptations of essentialized notions of race, ethnicity, nation, and gender."—John McGowan, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
"Focusing on the notion of the 'masquerade,' as developed by Joan Riviere, and working within the framework of Julia Kristeva's psychoanalytic theory, Norma Claire Moruzzi offers a highly original and very provocative reading of Arendt's major works. Anybody interested in political theory, feminist criticism, and Jewish studies will have to take note of this book."—Liliane Weissberg, Joseph B. Glossberg Term Professor in the Humanities, University of Pennsylvania
