Overview

The Czech-Brazilian philosopher Vilém Flusser (1920–1991) has been recognized as a decisive past master in the emergence of contemporary media theory and media archeology. His work engages and also rethinks several mythologies of modernity, devising new methodologies, experimental literary practices, and expanded hermeneutics that trouble traditional practices of literary/literate knowledge, shared experience, reception, and communication. Working within an expanded concept of modernism, Flusser presciently noted the power inherent in algorithmic information apparatuses to reshape our fundamental conceptions of culture and history. In an increasingly technological world, Flusser's form of experimental theory-fiction pits philosophy against cybernetics as it forces the category of “the human” to confront the inhuman world of animals and machines. The contributors to Understanding Flusser, Understanding Modernism engage with the multiplicity of Flusser’s thought as they provide a general analysis of his work, engage in comparative readings with other philosophers, and offer expanded conceptualizations of modernism. The final section of the volume includes an extended glossary clarifying the playful terminology used by Flusser, which will be a valuable resource for experts and students alike.

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9781501386367

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Reviews

An extraordinary collection of scholars is here assembled to provide the Jonny-come-lately Anglophone world with a critical resource for our heterochronic times. After the pandemic, what better preparation for the coming storm than this exceptionally lively and brilliantly curated collection of essays and interventions on 'the event of Flusser'-an event whose retrofuturist moment is upon us. Situated at the sweet spot between cybernetics and existentialism, media theory and 'weird' thought, Flusser's migratory work left a thousand tendrils of unfulfilled potential behind; here that mass of theoretic implication begins to twitch, to move, to speak ... It's alive! --Julian Murphet, Jury Chair of English Language and Literature, University of Adelaide, Australia Vilem Flusser's work becomes more urgent with every new decade we enter in the twenty-first century. This brilliantly constructed volume takes the eclecticism of his oeuvre seriously, and by engaging an outstanding group of his most significant interlocutors as well as emerging voices at the nexus of modernism, media studies, and theory after humanism, Understanding Flusser, Understanding Modernism appears at the moment in which Flusser's prescience is making itself known across disciplines. This is an essential volume for anyone reading Flusser today, which should really be everyone. --Kate Marshall, Associate Professor, University of Notre Dame, USA An essential guide for both the novice and the expert, this wide-ranging collection traces the uniquely cosmopolitan itinerary of Flusser's life and work, introducing the major concepts while pushing his thought in new directions. As this volume shows, media theory is far too tidy a term for this gargantuan thinker, an event called Flusser that we're just beginning to process. Flusser hasn't left the building; he hasn't even arrived yet. --Cary Wolfe, Bruce and Elizabeth Dunlevie Professor of English, Rice University, USA

Author Information

Aaron Jaffe is Frances Cushing Ervin Professor of American Literature at Florida State University, USA. He is the author or editor of six previous books, including The Way Things Go: An Essay on the Matter of Second Modernism (2014). Michael F. Miller is Visiting Lecturer in the Department of English Language and Culture at the University of Amsterdam, Netherlands. He has published essays on contemporary literature, media theory, digital culture, and politics. Rodrigo Martini is Lecturer in English at the University of Georgia, USA.

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