The Demon of Writing : Powers and Failures of Paperwork
Language: English
Published by Zone Books Apr 2020, 2020
Series: Book 19 of 19 - Zone Books
- Softcover
- New

Seller: AHA-BUCH GmbH, Einbeck, GermanyAHA-BUCH GmbH
AbeBooks seller since August 14, 2006
Condition: New
£ 38.68
Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketItem description from seller
Neuware - Since the middle of the eighteenth century, political thinkers of all kinds - radical and reactionary, professional and amateur - have been complaining about 'bureaucracy.' But what, exactly, is all this complaining about The Demon of Writing is a critical history and theory of one of the most ubiquitous, least understood forms of media: paperwork. States rely on records to tax and spend, protect and serve, discipline and punish. But time and again this paperwork proves to be unreliable. Examining episodes from the story of a clerk who lost his job and then his mind in the French Revolution to Roland Barthes's brief stint as a university administrator, the book reveals the powers, failures, and even pleasures of paperwork. Many of its complexities, the book argues, have been obscured by the comic-paranoid style that characterizes so many of our criticisms of bureaucracy. At the same time, the book outlines a new theory of what Marx called the 'bureaucratic medium.' Returning first to Marx, then to Freud, The Demon of Writing argues that this theory of paperwork must be attentive to both praxis and parapraxis.…
Seller Inventory # 9781942130352
- Title
- The Demon of Writing : Powers and Failures of Paperwork
- Author
- Ben Kafka
- Publisher
- Zone Books Apr 2020
- Publication year
- 2020
- Condition
- Neu
- Binding
- Taschenbuch
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 194213035X
- ISBN 13
- 9781942130352
- Item weight
- 301 grams
- Dimensions
- 228x154x17 mm
- Series
- Book 19 of 19: Zone Books
A history and theory of the powers, the failures, and even the pleasures of paperwork.
Since the middle of the eighteenth century, political thinkers of all kinds―radical and reactionary, professional and amateur―have been complaining about “bureaucracy.” But what, exactly, are they complaining about?
In The Demon of Writing, Ben Kafka offers a critical history and theory of one of the most ubiquitous, least understood forms of media: paperwork. States rely on records to tax and spend, protect and serve, discipline and punish. But time and again, this paperwork proves to be unreliable. Examining episodes that range from the story of a clerk who lost his job and then his mind in the French Revolution to an account of Roland Barthes's brief stint as a university administrator, Kafka reveals the powers, the failures, and even the pleasures of paperwork. Many of its complexities, he argues, have been obscured by the comic-paranoid style that characterizes much of our criticism of bureaucracy. Kafka proposes a new theory of what Karl Marx called the “bureaucratic medium.” Moving from Marx to Freud, he argues that this theory of paperwork must include both a theory of praxis and of parapraxis.
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