From Erving to Goffman — Ebook

Erving Goffman is one of the most influential sociologists of the 20th century. A specialist in human interaction, he enjoyed a dazzling career, influencing many of his contemporaries and producing a wide-ranging intellectual legacy. He left his mark on the French academic world with the publication of several of his texts by Pierre Bourdieu. Surprisingly, however, little or nothing is known about him, and no biographer has yet examined his life.

Yves Winkin got to know Erving Goffman well during his years of study in the United States. He has dug through years of archives, notes and interview reports to create this book, written in a jubilant style. With critical distance and humor, he also analyzes his work as a biographer, giving a masterly lesson in biography.