Reconsiders exceptionalism between aesthetics and politics Here, Arne De Boever proposes the notion of aesthetic exceptionalism to describe the widespread belief that art and artists are exceptional. Against Aesthetic Exceptionalism challenges that belief by focusing on the sovereign artist as genius, as well as the original artwork as the foundation of the art market. Engaging with sculpture, conceptual artwork, and painting by emerging and established artists, De Boever proposes a worldly, democratic notion of unexceptional art as an antidote to the problems of aesthetic exceptionalism. Forerunners: Ideas First Short books of thought-in-process scholarship, where intense analysis, questioning, and speculation take the lead.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Introduction
• 1. Revisiting The Bonfire of the Vanities
• 2. Psychotic Realism in (American) Psycho
• 3. Financial Realism in The Fear Index
• 4. The Financial Universe (After Meillassoux)
• 5. Michel Houellebecq, Finance Novelist
• 6. Financing the Novel: Ben Lerner's 10:04 Conclusion: Economic Defense Systems-- Or: On Financial Immunity
• Acknowledgments Notes Index.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

Features readings of popular novels, such as Tom Wolfe's "Bonfire of the Vanities" and Bret Easton Ellis' "American Psycho, " as well as more recent works by Robert Harris, Michel Houellebecq, and others.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)
Finance Fictions takes the measure of what it means to live in a world ruled by high finance by examining the tension between psychosis and realism that plays out in the contemporary finance novel. When the things traded at the center of the economy cease to be things at all, but highly abstracted speculations, how do we come to see the real? What sorts of narrative can accurately approach the actual workings of a neoliberal economy marked by accelerating cycles of market crashes, economic and political crisis, and austerity? Revisiting such twentieth-century classics of the genre as Tom Wolfe's Bonfire of the Vanities and Bret Easton Ellis's American Psycho, De Boever argues that the twenty-first century is witnessing the birth of a new kind of realistic novel that can make sense of complex financial instruments like collateralized debt obligations, credit default swaps, and digital algorithms operating at speeds faster than what human beings or computers can record. If in 1989 Wolfe could still urge novelists to work harder to "tame the billion-footed beast of reality, " today's economic reality confronts us with a difference that is qualitative rather than quantitative: a new financial ontology requiring new modes of thinking and writing. Mobilizing the philosophical thought of Quentin Meillassoux in the close reading of finance novels by Robert Harris, Michel Houellebecq, Ben Lerner and less well-known works of conceptual writing such as Mathew Timmons' Credit, Finance Fictions argues that realism is in for a speculative update if it wants to take on the contemporary economy-an "if" whose implications turn out to be deeply political. Part literary study and part philosophical inquiry, Finance Fictions seeks to contribute to a new mindset for creative and critical work on finance in the twenty-first century.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

Through a sustained engagement with the work of the Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben, and against the background of contemporary political phenomena, Arne De Boever explores what positive political possibilities the notion of sovereignty might still hold. Using the philosophy of Catherine Malabou, he argues that these possibilities reside in an aesthetic reconceptualisation of sovereignty as a plastic power that is able to give, receive and explode the forms of our political future.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)
Through a sustained engagement with the work of Giorgio Agamben and Catherine Malabou, and against the background of contemporary political phenomena, Arne De Boever explores what positive political possibilities the notion of sovereignty might still hold.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

Through a sustained engagement with the work of Giorgio Agamben and Catherine Malabou, and against the background of contemporary political phenomena, Arne De Boever explores what positive political possibilities the notion of sovereignty might still hold.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Acknowledgements / Introduction: Towards a Pharmacological Theory of the Novel / Chapter One: J.M. Coetzee's Slow Man as "a Biologico-Literary Experiment" / Chapter Two: Bare Life and the Camps in Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go / Chapter Three: Life-Writing in Paul Auster's The Book of Illusions / Chapter Four: "Just Being": On Tom McCarthy's Remainder / Conclusion: Pedro Almod var's Talk to Her as a Narrative of Care / Bibliography / Index.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

If the September 11 terror attacks opened up an era of crises and exceptions of which we are yet to see the end, it is perhaps not surprising that care has emerged in the early twenty-first century as a key political issue. This book approaches contemporary narratives of care through the lens of a growing body of theoretical writings on biopolitics. Through close-readings of J.M. Coetzee's Slow Man, Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go, Paul Auster's The Book of Illusions, and Tom McCarthy's Remainder, it seeks to reframe debates about realism in the novel ranging from Ian Watt to Zadie Smith as engagements with the novel's biopolitical origins: its relation to pastoral care, the camps, and the welfare state. Within such an understanding of the novel, what possibilities for a critical aesthetics of existence does the contemporary novel include?
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Dedication-- Acknowledgements-- List of Illustrations-- Introduction: Decision Time-- A. September
• 11 and the Aesthetic Decision-- B. The Chapters-- C. Schmitt, Hobbes, Benjamin, Burnham-- Chapter One: States of Exception in Yann Martel's Life of Pi-- A. Introduction-- B. Political State of Exception-- C. Psychic State of Exception-- D. Theological State of Exception-- E. The Politics of Allegory-- Chapter Two: Autobiography and Human Rights in Jeffrey-- Eugenides' Middlesex-- A. A Failure of Reading-- B. Reading Human Rights-- C. The Political Life of Sex-- D. Sex in Theory-- E/ Autobiography and Messianism-- Chapter Three: Literary Economies in J.M. Coetzee's Disgrace-- A. Disgrace, Once More-- B. The Circular Economy of Violence-- C. Reading Incest-- D. Lucy's Count-- E. Lucy as "the part of those who have no part"-- F. From Animals to Aesthetic Economy-- Chapter Four: Architectures of Exception in W.G. Sebald's Austerlitz-- A. Architecture, Trauma, and the Camps-- B. Reading Fortifications-- C. The Cabinet of Wonder-- D. Architectures of the Uncanny-- E. Moving Testimony-- F. The Novel in Motion-- or: The Politics of Austerlitz's Aesthetic-- Conclusion: From Exception to Care-- A. Crisis and Play-- B. Biopolitics, the Novel, and Care-- Bibliographic References-- Index.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

In the aftermath of the September 11 terror attacks, the political situation in both the United States and abroad has often been described as a "state of exception": an emergency situation in which the normal rule of law is suspended. In such a situation, the need for good decisions is felt ever more strongly. This book investigates the aesthetics, ethics, and politics of various decisions represented in novels published around 9/11: Martel's Life of Pi, Eugenides' Middlesex, Coetzee's Disgrace, and Sebald's Austerlitz. De Boever's readings of the novels revolve around what he calls the aesthetic decision.' Which aesthetics do the characters and narrators in the novels adopt in a situation of crisis? How do these aesthetic decisions relate to the ethical and political decisions represented in the novels? What can they reveal about real-life ethical and political decisions? This book uncovers the politics of allegory, autobiography, focalization, and montage in today's planetary state of exception.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Dedication-- Acknowledgements-- List of Illustrations-- Introduction: Decision Time-- A. September
• 11 and the Aesthetic Decision-- B. The Chapters-- C. Schmitt, Hobbes, Benjamin, Burnham-- Chapter One: States of Exception in Yann Martel's Life of Pi-- A. Introduction-- B. Political State of Exception-- C. Psychic State of Exception-- D. Theological State of Exception-- E. The Politics of Allegory-- Chapter Two: Autobiography and Human Rights in Jeffrey-- Eugenides' Middlesex-- A. A Failure of Reading-- B. Reading Human Rights-- C. The Political Life of Sex-- D. Sex in Theory-- E/ Autobiography and Messianism-- Chapter Three: Literary Economies in J.M. Coetzee's Disgrace-- A. Disgrace, Once More-- B. The Circular Economy of Violence-- C. Reading Incest-- D. Lucy's Count-- E. Lucy as "the part of those who have no part"-- F. From Animals to Aesthetic Economy-- Chapter Four: Architectures of Exception in W.G. Sebald's Austerlitz-- A. Architecture, Trauma, and the Camps-- B. Reading Fortifications-- C. The Cabinet of Wonder-- D. Architectures of the Uncanny-- E. Moving Testimony-- F. The Novel in Motion-- or: The Politics of Austerlitz's Aesthetic-- Conclusion: From Exception to Care-- A. Crisis and Play-- B. Biopolitics, the Novel, and Care-- Bibliographic References-- Index.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

In the aftermath of the September 11 terror attacks, the political situation in both the United States and abroad has often been described as a "state of exception": an emergency situation in which the normal rule of law is suspended. In such a situation, the need for good decisions is felt ever more strongly. This book investigates the aesthetics, ethics, and politics of various decisions represented in novels published around 9/11: Martel's Life of Pi, Eugenides' Middlesex, Coetzee's Disgrace, and Sebald's Austerlitz. De Boever's readings of the novels revolve around what he calls the aesthetic decision.' Which aesthetics do the characters and narrators in the novels adopt in a situation of crisis? How do these aesthetic decisions relate to the ethical and political decisions represented in the novels? What can they reveal about real-life ethical and political decisions? This book uncovers the politics of allegory, autobiography, focalization, and montage in today's planetary state of exception.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Abbreviations-- Introduction: Simondon, Finally, Arne de Boever, Alex Murray, Jon Roffe and Ashley Woodward-- 1.Technical Mentality, Gilbert Simondon, translated by Arne De Boever-- Explications--
• 2. 'Technical Mentality' Revisited: Brian Massumi on Gilbert Simondon, With Arne De Boever, Alex Murray and Jon Roffe--
• 3. Identity and Individuation: Some Feminist Reflections, Elizabeth Grosz--
• 4. Crystals and Membranes: Individuation and Temporality, Anne Sauvagnargues, translated by Jon Roffe-- Implications--
• 5. The Question of Anxiety in Gilbert Simondon, Igor Krtolica, translated by Jon Roffe--
• 6. Infra-Psychic Individuation: Transductive Connections and the Genesis of Living Techniques, Marie-Pier Boucher--
• 7. 'Du mort qui saisit le vif': Simondonian Ontology Today, Jean-Hugues Barthelemy, translated by Justin Clemens--
• 8. The Aesthetics of Gilbert Simondon: Anticipation of the Contemporary Aesthetic Experience, Yves Michaud, translated by Justin Clemens-- Resonances--
• 9. Gilles Deleuze, a Reader of Gilbert Simondon, Sean Bowden--
• 10. Science and Ontology: From Merleau-Ponty's 'Reduction' to Simondon's 'Transduction', Miguel de Beistegui--
• 11. The Question of the Individual in Georges Canguilhem and Gilbert Simondon, Dominique Lecourt, translated by Arne De Boever--
• 12. The Theatre of Individuation: Phase-shift and Resolution in Simondon and Heidegger, Bernard Stiegler, translated by Kristina Lebedeva-- Glossary: Fifty Key Terms in the Works of Gilbert Simondon, Jean-Hugues Barthelemy-- Index.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

The first sustained exploration of Simondon's work in English Gilbert Simondon's work has recently come to prominence in America and around the Anglophone work, having been of great importance in France for many years. This first collection of essays, by renowned critics and philosophers, outlines the central tenets of Simondon's thought, the implication of his thought in numerous disciplines and his relationship to other thinkers such as Heidegger, Deleuze and Canguilhem. This book offers an entry point to this influential thinker and will appeal to people working in philosophy, philosophy of science, media studies, social theory and political philosophy. Includes * a contextualising introduction * an important essay by Simondon himself * a glossary of 50 key terms in Simondon's work Keywords Gilbert Simondon; Technology; Individuation; Ontogenesis; Technicity.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Abbreviations-- Introduction: Simondon, Finally, Arne de Boever, Alex Murray, Jon Roffe and Ashley Woodward-- 1.Technical Mentality, Gilbert Simondon, translated by Arne De Boever-- Explications--
• 2. 'Technical Mentality' Revisited: Brian Massumi on Gilbert Simondon, With Arne De Boever, Alex Murray and Jon Roffe--
• 3. Identity and Individuation: Some Feminist Reflections, Elizabeth Grosz--
• 4. Crystals and Membranes: Individuation and Temporality, Anne Sauvagnargues, translated by Jon Roffe-- Implications--
• 5. The Question of Anxiety in Gilbert Simondon, Igor Krtolica, translated by Jon Roffe--
• 6. Infra-Psychic Individuation: Transductive Connections and the Genesis of Living Techniques, Marie-Pier Boucher--
• 7. 'Du mort qui saisit le vif': Simondonian Ontology Today, Jean-Hugues Barthelemy, translated by Justin Clemens--
• 8. The Aesthetics of Gilbert Simondon: Anticipation of the Contemporary Aesthetic Experience, Yves Michaud, translated by Justin Clemens-- Resonances--
• 9. Gilles Deleuze, a Reader of Gilbert Simondon, Sean Bowden--
• 10. Science and Ontology: From Merleau-Ponty's 'Reduction' to Simondon's 'Transduction', Miguel de Beistegui--
• 11. The Question of the Individual in Georges Canguilhem and Gilbert Simondon, Dominique Lecourt, translated by Arne De Boever--
• 12. The Theatre of Individuation: Phase-shift and Resolution in Simondon and Heidegger, Bernard Stiegler, translated by Kristina Lebedeva-- Glossary: Fifty Key Terms in the Works of Gilbert Simondon, Jean-Hugues Barthelemy-- Index.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

The first sustained exploration of Simondon's work in English Gilbert Simondon's work has recently come to prominence in America and around the Anglophone work, having been of great importance in France for many years. This first collection of essays, by renowned critics and philosophers, outlines the central tenets of Simondon's thought, the implication of his thought in numerous disciplines and his relationship to other thinkers such as Heidegger, Deleuze and Canguilhem. This book offers an entry point to this influential thinker and will appeal to people working in philosophy, philosophy of science, media studies, social theory and political philosophy. Includes * a contextualising introduction * an important essay by Simondon himself * a glossary of 50 key terms in Simondon's work Keywords Gilbert Simondon; Technology; Individuation; Ontogenesis; Technicity.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)