Jean-François Lyotard (1924–98) was born in Versailles, France, and taught philosophy at boys' schools in Algeria and La Flèche before writing a masters thesis in literature and philosophy at the Sorbonne. In 1971, he received his doctorat d'état for Discours, figure. His first published writings were political in nature and concerned with the French colonization of Algeria. He was on the editorial committee of Socialisme ou barbarie and also contributed to Pouvoir Ouvrir until events of the late 1960s precipitated his disengagement from Marxism. From 1959 to 1966 he held the position of maître-assistant at the Sorbonne and then taught at the Paris X University Nanterre from 1966 to 1970. From 1970 he taught at the University of Vincennes in Saint-Denis. He was appointed Professor of Philosophy in 1972. From 1974 he simultaneously held numerous international posts in the US, Canada, Brazil, Denmark and Germany. Described as a polymath because of the broad disciplinary embrace of his endeavours (philosophy, literature, art, politics and ethics), he is most renowned for his work on postmodernism, particularly The Post-Modern Condition (1984), which was commissioned by the government of Quebec. Other works include The Differend (1988), Phenomenology (1954; English trans. 1991), Dérive à partir Marx et Freud (1973), Des dispositifs pulsionnels (1973), Libidinal Economy (1974; English trans. 1993), Duchamp's TRANS/formers (1977; English trans. 1990), La Partie de peinture (1980), Les Immatérieux (1985), The Postmodern Explained to Children (1986; English trans. 1992), Heidegger and “the Jews” (1988; English trans. 1990), The Inhuman (1988; English trans. 1991), Lessons on the Analytic of the Sublime (1991; English trans. 1994), The Confession of Augustine (1998; English trans. 2000) and Misère de la philosophie (2000).