Here are some recent blurbs from interviews of Harold Jaffe's Revolutionary Brain:
"Both alarming and playful, Revolutionary Brain is an accessible read that offers neither authoritative explanations nor easy resolutions to today’s problems of digital overload; instead, the book, by its own example, attempts to illustrate how art and activism can shock us out of complacency." —New Orleans Review
"[I]t is what Jaffe does with others’ words that makes his writing riveting. Along with poignant, startling, disturbing." —San Diego Gay & Lesbian News
"I found myself pondering his words and meanings on every page. It was enjoyable; it was thought-provoking, at times it was comedic, and one that I will need to read many times to get the full gist of his meanings." —San Diego Free Press
Interview with Harold Jaffe
In this timely collection of essays and "quasi-essays," acclaimed novelist and critic Harold Jaffe explores the intricate vicissitudes of millennial culture. Gesturing, in a philosophical shorthand, toward a kind of pop Armageddon, Revolutionary Brain is at once thesis, allegory, and surreal comedy, demonstrating just how far we, and the natural world we have debased, have fallen. Obsessed with technology, we are incapable of reconstructing ourselves. By way of Jaffe's elegant prose and perfect pitch, our collective disability is laid bare at the 11th hour. Revolutionary Brain is a powerful cry for a brave new aesthetics that turns towards, not away, from our tormented globe.
Technologized Desire on Kindle
D. Harlan Wilson's Technologized Desire: Selfhood & the Body in Postcapitalist Science Fiction, is now available on Kindle. The Nook will follow in the next week or so.
Here's the Table of Contents.
Here's the book description:
In Technologized Desire, D. Harlan Wilson measures the evolution of the human condition as it has been represented by postcapitalist science fiction, which has consistently represented the body and subjectivity as ultraviolent, pathological phenomena. Operating under the assumption that selfhood is a technology—i.e., a creative projection from the body encompassing everything from language to electronic machinery—Wilson studies the emergence of selfhood in philosophy (Deleuze & Guattari), fiction (William S. Burroughs' cut-up novels and Max Barry's Jennifer Government), and cinema (Army of Darkness, Vanilla Sky, and the Matrix trilogy) in an attempt to portray the schizophrenic rigor of twenty-first century mediatized life. We are obligated by the pathological unconscious to always choose to be enslaved by capital and its hi-tech arsenal. The universe of consumer-capitalism, Wilson argues, is an illusory prison from which there is no escape—despite the fact that it is illusory.
Here's the Table of Contents.
Here's the book description:
In Technologized Desire, D. Harlan Wilson measures the evolution of the human condition as it has been represented by postcapitalist science fiction, which has consistently represented the body and subjectivity as ultraviolent, pathological phenomena. Operating under the assumption that selfhood is a technology—i.e., a creative projection from the body encompassing everything from language to electronic machinery—Wilson studies the emergence of selfhood in philosophy (Deleuze & Guattari), fiction (William S. Burroughs' cut-up novels and Max Barry's Jennifer Government), and cinema (Army of Darkness, Vanilla Sky, and the Matrix trilogy) in an attempt to portray the schizophrenic rigor of twenty-first century mediatized life. We are obligated by the pathological unconscious to always choose to be enslaved by capital and its hi-tech arsenal. The universe of consumer-capitalism, Wilson argues, is an illusory prison from which there is no escape—despite the fact that it is illusory.
Technologized Desire on Kindle/Nook
D. Harlan Wilson's book of literary and cultural criticism, Technologized Desire: Selfhood & the Body in Postcapitalist Science Fiction, will be available on Kindle and Nook soon. Here are a few blurbs and passages from some reviews:
"A
common accompanying theme ... of postcapitalist science fiction is dystopian
post-humanism: a merging of the biological self with technology with disastrous
global consequences. Such stories swarm with clones, cyborgs, and virtual
realities. These latter stories have a tendency to dehumanize the human, many
seeming to strive to answer the question, 'What is humanity?' while characters
plug or jack or dial into virtual, highly technologized existences. With this
backdrop of science fiction, along with that of decades of culture, philosophy,
politics, and history as its base, and expanding his science fiction data field
to include cinema as the prevailing mass medium for such fiction, prolific
fiction and non-fiction author D. Harlan Wilson's Technologized Desire:
Selfhood & the Body in Postcapitalist Science Fiction is an ambitious
undertaking, analyzing the currents of all these information flows and
examining them for patterns and meaning with a keen, postmodern eye." The
New York Review of Science Fiction
"With
or without choice, Wilson's technologized subjects explore the possibilities
left them through 'science fiction texts [...] that can be read as
technocultural phenomena as well as sources that read into the nature of
technoculture.' This is the fruitful outcome of Wilson's project—a series of
deft and interesting analyses of the ways in which specific sf texts map the
position of the technologized self within the postmodern world ... I would
recommend the book highly to anyone interested in any of the texts under
analysis and for those interested in postcapitalism or sf as a proscriptive
genre. Although the level of theoretical engagement would make Technologized
Desire a difficult text for all but the most advanced graduate students, I
could easily see using it in the classroom as a model for graduate students on
how to integrate multiple theories by multiple theorists into a persuasive
argument." Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts
"Technologized
Desire proves itself to be a rich addition to the growing canon of
21st-century critical theory and literary criticism. Wilson is an author who
expresses a clear concern for the future; his book is an urgent text of keen
observation and wide-reaching social commentary that warrants nothing less than
a careful, thoughtful read." Rain Taxi
"Wilson's
text serves not only as a well-informed addition to science fiction criticism
and theory, but also as a critique of postmodem society and the direction it is
headed. Utilizing examples from postcapitalist films, novels, and comic books,
Wilson provides a dynamic analysis of science fiction as a way to view
postmodern capitalism and its effects on society and individuals." FemSpec
"Postmodern
SF, Wilson suggests, has recovered from the panic of cyberpunk and begun to
treat the human as body as a commodity-self that can free itself from the
technological ... Ultimately, Wilson's book is a quick read, except where he
chooses to quote Bukatman and Deleuze-Guattari. It could serve as an entry into
SF and postmodern fiction and film." Journal of the Midwest Modern
Language Association
"As
time goes on, will humanity become less human? Technologized Desire:
Selfhood and the Body in Postcapitalist Science Fiction is a discussion of
science fiction and its relation to the future of mankind and its relationship
to technology. Analyzing the works of many writers, D. Harlan Wilson brings
readers some original philosophy about the conclusions we can draw for the
future of mankind, by simply looking at science fiction. Technologized
Desire is an utterly fascinating read that deserves a place in any literary
studies collection." Midwest Book Review
"By
and large, his interpretations are right on the money: Wilson's analyses are
almost always rich, insightful, and convincing. Thus, Crowe's and Raimi's films
demonstrate the impossibility of a 'natural' self even while guilefully
suggesting the opposite; Burroughs' trilogy advances postcapitalist (i.e.,
hypercapitalist) 'reality'; and the Wachowskis' MATRIX films recapitulate all
of this with an eye toward 'the futurological dimension of a postcapitalist
dystopia,' as well as the history of science fiction itself. In addition,
Wilson's key concern—that capitalist critique be added to the otherwise
exemplary work begun by Bukatman—constitutes a valuable contribution to recent
scholarship on postmodern science fiction." Science Fiction Studies
"Wilson
mobilized a pantheon of twentieth century commentators from Freud to Benjamin,
to Baudrillard and Lacan, to Jameson and Zizek, to, finally, Deleuze and
Guattari—'poet laureates of technocapitalism' ... [D]espite being a deceptively
concise book, Technologized Desire ... is a more than worthy addition to
sf scholarship. I can appeal both to those deeply entrenched in the discourses
of capitalist posthumanity and to beginners whom the book will send outward to
other critical texts invoked by Wilson." Extrapolation
"In
Technologized Desire, the cultural pathologies that mark the panic
ecstasy and terminal doom of the posthuman condition are powerfully rehearsed
in the language of science fiction. Here, images of prosthetic subjects,
zombies, cut-ups and armies of the medieval dead actually slip off the pages of
literature to become the terminal hauntology of these technologized times. Technologized
Desire is nothing less than a brilliant data screen of future memories.
Read it well: it's a survival guide for bodies flatlined by the speed of
accelerating technology." Arthur Kroker, author of The
Postmodern Scene and Panic Encyclopedia
"Describing
an impressively wide arc from high-toned cultural theory to cyberpunk fiction
to techno-centered cinema, Wilson advances his theory that 'the only choice
available to the postmodern subject ... is rooted in a dependency on ... the
ultraviolent schizophrenic production of the commodity-self.' Technologized
Desire is a bright, brazen, evocative reading of technology, the body, and
the art that is inaccurately labeled science 'fiction'." Harold Jaffe,
author of Straight Razor, 15 Serial Killers and Beyond the
Techno-Cave: A Guerilla Writer's Guide to Post-Milennial Culture
"D.
Harlan Wilson’s Technologized Desire: Selfhood and the Body in
Postcapitalist Science Fiction is a fantastic book. One of the finest
theoretical examinations in the field, it is also eminently readable and highly
incisive. With this, Wilson has written a major work, one that will stand out
(and above) in science fiction studies. Both great fun and wonderfully
intelligent, how could you go wrong? Highly recommended.” Gary Hoppenstand, editor
of The Journal of Popular Culture
“Postmodern analysis of science fiction doesn’t
get any better than this. Jump in and see how far down the rabbit hole goes.” William
Irwin, editor of The Matrix and Philosophy: Welcome to the Desert of the
Real and More Matrix and Philosophy: Revolutions and Reloaded Decoded
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