Professors from the Sorbonne and UFSCar show how fear discourse fuels anxiety, phobias, and panic in the neoliberal age. Out in March.
Fear as a historical and social construction
Fear is not just a bodily reaction — it is built, amplified, and spread through discourse. That is the core argument of “The Age of Anxiety: Discourses of Fear in the Empire of Emotions”, co-authored by Jean-Jacques Courtine, professor at the Université Sorbonne Nouvelle (Paris III), and Carlos Piovezani, professor in the Department of Language and Literature at the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar), in Brazil.
The 160-page book is already available through Livraria Vozes and other online retailers in Brazil. Starting March 1, 2026, it will also be sold in physical bookstores nationwide.
Why anxiety defines our era
Piovezani says the project grew from a desire to understand the sharp rise in psychological suffering in contemporary life. According to the authors, fear as an emotion shifts across historical time and social space — and today, the production of fear-driven discourse has surged dramatically.
“In our times, the production of these discourses has increased considerably. We live in an era where the ‘sensitive human being’ has already taken hold — a time when we are more susceptible than ever to passions in general, and to discourses of fear in particular. That is why we find ourselves today in what we call ‘The Age of Anxiety’.” — Carlos Piovezani, UFSCar professor
Research backed by CNPq and Fapesp
The book brings together Piovezani’s research — funded by Brazil’s CNPq and Fapesp — alongside Courtine’s work in Cultural History and the History of Sensibilities. It targets scholars in Discourse Analysis and the Humanities, as well as general readers seeking to understand how neoliberal life shapes psychological suffering through language and narrative.
A collaboration spanning over two decades
The partnership between the two scholars goes back more than twenty years. Courtine supervised Piovezani during his doctoral research at the Sorbonne Nouvelle between 2004 and 2005. Since then, they have co-edited “História da fala pública” (Vozes, 2015) and co-authored the chapter “Discourses of Fear in the Age of Anxiety”, published in “Discourse and Emotions: Fear, Hatred, Shame and Other Affects” (Editora Parábola, 2024).
Official launch at the Abralin International Congress
The book’s official debut takes place at the XIV Interab — International Congress of the Brazilian Linguistics Association (Abralin), held at the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE) in Recife, on March 4, 2026. Professor Piovezani will be present at the event.
Event details
Book: The Age of Anxiety: Discourses of Fear in the Empire of Emotions
Authors: Jean-Jacques Courtine and Carlos Piovezani
Pages: 160
Available online: Livraria Vozes (https://www.livrariavozes.com.br) and other online retailers
In physical bookstores: From March 1, 2026
Launch event: March 4, 2026 — XIV Interab/Abralin, UFPE, Recife, Brazil
Contact the author: cpiovezani@ufscar.br
Photo: Press release
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