
The Old Man and the Wolves
A Novel
Julia Kristeva(Author)
Columbia University Press
Will be published approx. on 23. December 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
183 pages
978-0-231-22087-3 (ISBN)
Description
Wolves have invaded the seaside resort town of Santa Varvara, a fictional postindustrial city in Eastern Europe, killing thousands of people, but no one will speak of it except a Latin professor known as the Old Man. Part detective story, part fable, this novel is set in a mythical landscape where the boundaries between East and West, civilization and barbarianism have been erased. Narrated by a French journalist-Stephanie Delacour, Julia Kristeva's alter ego-The Old Man and the Wolves shows the great thinker at the height of her literary powers.
Reviews / Votes
Kristeva's experimental novel is an iridescent gem glinting with psychoanalytic speculations, shards of myth and classical lore, and musings on death, hate, love and the imagination. * Publishers Weekly * In Kristeva's version of the allegorical psychological thriller, the dream of a civilized and civilizing logic becomes transformed into the discontents' chilling prayer to the wolves themselves. * Review of Contemporary Fiction *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 137 mm
Width: 216 mm
Thickness: 14 mm
Weight
216 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-231-22087-3 (9780231220873)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
12/2025
1st Edition
Columbia University Press
€16.49
Available for download
Persons
Julia Kristeva is professor emerita of linguistics at the Universite de Paris VII. A renowned psychoanalyst, philosopher, and linguist, she has written dozens of books spanning semiotics, political theory, literary criticism, gender and sex, and cultural critique, as well as several novels and autobiographical works, published in English translation by Columbia University Press. Kristeva was the inaugural recipient of the Holberg International Memorial Prize in 2004 "for innovative explorations of questions on the intersection of language, culture, and literature."
Barbara Bray (1924-2010) was a leading translator of twentieth-century French literature into English, including works by Marguerite Duras, Samuel Beckett, Jean-Paul Sartre, Jean Anouilh, and Alain Robbe-Grillet.
Barbara Bray (1924-2010) was a leading translator of twentieth-century French literature into English, including works by Marguerite Duras, Samuel Beckett, Jean-Paul Sartre, Jean Anouilh, and Alain Robbe-Grillet.
Content
Part I. The Invasion
1. Whom Is One to Believe? Fear
2. Nothing-That's What He Thinks
3. Anamorphoses
Part II. Detective Story
4. Neither More nor Less
5. No Point in Shouting for Help
6. Disparate Effects
Part III. Capriccio
7. By the Throat
8. Men of Sorrow
9. Where's the Crime?
1. Whom Is One to Believe? Fear
2. Nothing-That's What He Thinks
3. Anamorphoses
Part II. Detective Story
4. Neither More nor Less
5. No Point in Shouting for Help
6. Disparate Effects
Part III. Capriccio
7. By the Throat
8. Men of Sorrow
9. Where's the Crime?