Postmodernism has come and gone, but the belief that artists and works of art are exceptional is alive and well. Post-Exceptionalism speculates that this is so because postmodernism, when it declared the death of the author and celebrated the copy, failed to name political theology as its fundamental target. In a time when sovereignty is experiencing a dubious global revival, the moment has come to reconsider the artist and the work of art after political theology in search for a new, worldly, and emancipatory politics of aesthetics.

Arne De Boever has distinguished himself for a staccato stream of evocative, thought-provoking, and eminently readable books that are connected by an unmistakably personal style of addressing contemporary problems in our stark reality. Looking back, this oeuvre forms a singular mosaic of critique and inspiration, and Post-Exceptionalism is its precious new gem. -- Stathis Gourgouris, Columbia University

Arne De Boever teaches American Studies in the School of Critical Studies at the California Institute of the Arts. He is the author of numerous articles, reviews, and translations, as well as several books on contemporary comparative fiction and political and aesthetic philosophy. His books include Against Aesthetic Exceptionalism (2019), Plastic Sovereignties: Agamben and the Politics of Aesthetics (2016), François Jullien’s Unexceptional Thought (2020), and Being Vulnerable (2023).