The second edition of Jairus Banaji’s book Wanting Something Completely Different with new cover design. The book discusses a range of political figures, themes, directors and writers in a series of brief, evocative descriptions (‘vignettes’) aimed at laying out a vision of a modern, cosmopolitan left that can think creatively about the world we live in. The political figures include both thinkers and activists from a wide range of backgrounds — from Frantz Fanon and the Palestinian novelist Ghassan Kanafani to the theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the murdered Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya.
The themes range equally widely from the death of Walter Benjamin (reconstructed here from a remarkable documentary on the same theme) and the slaying of Pasolini to the work of British Marxist Perry Anderson, or the corrupt nature of India’s leading corporate groups, or the outstanding contributions of Italian and U.S. Black feminists to feminist theory. And under the rubrics which discuss film and literature, there is the same striving for diversity and depth.
Jairus Banaji is a historian who received the Isaac and Tamara Deutscher Memorial Prize in 2011. His academic work has ranged widely across sources and languages, with major books on Late Antiquity and (most recently) commercial capitalism as well as numerous papers and articles. The vignettes collected in this Rab-Rab book reflect the same dazzling versatility and passion for ideas. They were first circulated on Facebook over some seven years or more and are reproduced here with a new introduction and extensive bibliographical references and notes.
Designed by Ott Kagovere, the second edition of the book is printed in 1000 copies and can be ordered either directly from our website or through our distributors.
“This book is an extraordinary act of generosity, a gift for anyone trying to not only imagine a better future arising from the rubble of the present, but actually trying to build it. In that sense, it is also a kind of primer for how to renew socialist politics for our times. Reminiscent of Walter Benjamin unpacking his library, Banaji opens up his vast reading archives to his readers in which books and ideas are sites of embodied history. He offers vignettes of over a hundred figures, themes and historical moments spread across different geographical locations, yet what unites them is how they responded (politically and aesthetically) to authoritarianism, religious fundamentalism, increasingly predatory capitalism and sexual and civil rights repressions. The ongoing attacks on Dalits, women, Muslims, and Adivasis in India, the assaults on migrants and refugees in Europe, the general oppression of racialised minorities, and the unfolding genocide in Palestine provide the impetus to examine these figures and themes.”
Rashmi Varma, Professor of English and Comparative Literary Studies, University of Warwick
“Reading Jairus Banaji’s collection of his fabulous FB posts. While each one when you read it originally was a gem on its own, together they form a fascinating whole on radical intellectuals and their imaginations. It would have been great if someone had written a post on Jairus himself and included it in the book as a sort of preface. Actually, someone should write a post on him that matches the intelligence of his posts and captures what a brilliant intellectual he has been and still is!”
Gyan Prakash, Dayton-Stockton Professor of History, Princeton University
“The title of this book is self-explanatory: Wanting Something Completely Different: 111 Vignettes of Left-Wing Figures, Themes, Films, and Writers. Through a series of taut, tersely-sketched pieces, Banaji explores the lives and times of individuals spanning time, space, craft, and discipline, but all united by “wanting something completely different.” Ruth First rubs shoulders with D.D. Kosambi, Elias Khoury stands alongside C.P. Cavafy, and Rimbaud is in conversation with Ghassan Kanafani.
What stands out in this collection is its sheer range and breadth: this is clearly the culmination of a lifetime of non-instrumental, non-directed reading and watching, a mental Library of Alexandria that has been lovingly put together brick by brick over decades. We are privileged to have it brought to us in a distilled — or condensed — form, but even reading that much filled me with a sense of awe for how much lay beneath the surface, to make that condensed form possible. It’s the kind of incandescent eclecticism that reminds me of Borges at his best.
My favourite section was the section on Film, because while many of the economists, historians, politicians, and writers were familiar to me, the Film section was entirely new, and opened up an entire world of radical film history that I never knew existed (apart from contextualising the little I did, such as The Battle of Algiers).
To anyone even vaguely interested in the internationalist tradition of imagining — and working towards — another, better world, I could not recommend this book highly enough. Apart from everything else, you will feel just a little less alienated, just a little less alone.”
Gautam Bhatia, Professor of Law at the Jindal Global Law School and Science Fiction author.
