A Critique of the New Commonplaces

by Jacques Ellul

  • Year 1966
  • Type Book
  • Genre cultural criticism
  • Tradition Reformed
  • Original language French

For For readers who enjoy sharp cultural criticism aimed at the slogans of modern society; not for a reader wanting theology or a systematic argument.

Should I read this?

For the general reader
3 of 5 worth your time
For the researcher
3 of 5 worth your time
Difficulty
3 of 5 demanding

Short ironic essays taking apart the commonplaces of modern opinion, in the tradition of Léon Bloy.

How it proceeds
  • Philosophic 3 of 5
  • Scriptural 0 of 5
  • Experiential 0 of 5
  • Sociological 4 of 5
  • Historical 1 of 5

Independent intensities, 0–5 — what the work is made of, not how good it is.

A book of short critical essays published by Calmann-Lévy in 1966; its title recalls Léon Bloy's Exégèse des lieux communs. Each chapter takes a commonplace of modern opinion, the kind of phrase repeated as self-evident in politics, work and progress, and examines what it assumes and what it hides. The essays show the polemical, often ironic side of Ellul's writing and apply his analysis of technique and propaganda to everyday speech. Helen Weaver translated it as A Critique of the New Commonplaces (Knopf, 1968).

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Catalog IDW.33JGEM.H

Edition details and descriptions on this page were compiled with the aid of AI research tools. Readers are encouraged to verify specifics (publisher, translator, edition year) against the originating source before purchase or citation.

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