Henri Bergson

Appearing here in English for the first time, Vladimir Jankelevitch's Henri Bergson is one of the two great commentaries written on Henri Bergson. Gilles Deleuze'sBergsonism renewed interest in the great French philosopher but failed to consider Bergson's experiential and religious perspectives. Here Jankelevitch covers all aspects of Bergson's thought, emphasizing the concepts of time and duration, memory, evolution, simplicity, love, and joy. A friend of Bergson's, Jankelevitch first published this book in 1931 and revised it in 1959 to treat Bergson's later works. This unabridged translation of the 1959 edition includes an editor's introduction, which contextualizes and outlines Jankelevitch's reading of Bergson, additional essays on Bergson by Jankelevitch, and Bergson's letters to Jankelevitch.

Vladimir Jankelevitch (1903-1985) held the chair in moral philosophy at the University of Paris-Sorbonne from 1951 to 1978, and was the author of more than twenty books on philosophy and music.

Alexandre Lefebvre is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Government and International Relations and the Department of Philosophy at the University of Sydney. He is the coeditor ofBergson, Politics, and Religion, also published by Duke University Press.

Nils F. Schott is James M. Motley Postdoctoral Fellow in the Humanities at Johns Hopkins University and the translator of several books, includingThe Helmholtz Curves: Tracing Lost Time, by Henning Schmidgen.