Louis Kaplan: The Strange Case of William Mumler, Spirit Photographer (2008)
Filed under book | Tags: · 1860s, hauntology, photography, psychoanalysis, spirit photography, spiritualism
In the 1860s, William Mumler photographed ghosts—or so he claimed. Faint images of the dearly departed lurked in the background with the living, like his well-known photo of the recently assassinated Abraham Lincoln comforting Mary Todd. The practice came to be known as spirit photography, and some believed Mumler was channeling the dead. Skeptics, however, called it a fraudulent trick on the gullible, taking advantage of the grieving at a time of suffering and loss. Mumler’s insistence that his work brought back the dead led to a sensational trial in 1869 that was the talk of the nation.
In The Strange Case of William Mumler, Spirit Photographer, Louis Kaplan brings together, for the first time, Mumler’s haunting images, his revealing memoir, and rich primary sources, including newspaper articles and P. T. Barnum’s famous indictment of Mumler in Humbugs of the World. Kaplan also contributes two extended essays, which offer a historical perspective of the Mumler phenomena and delve into the sociocultural and theoretical issues surrounding this vivid ghost story.
Mumler’s case was an early example of investigative journalism intersecting with a criminal trial that, at its essence, set science against religion. The Strange Case of William Mumler, Spirit Photographer is the definitive resource for this unique and fascinating moment in American history and provides insights into today’s ghosts in the machine.
Publisher University of Minnesota Press, 2008
Fesler-Lampert Minnesota Heritage Books
ISBN 0816651566, 9780816651566
288 pages
Henning Schmidgen: Das Unbewußte Der Maschinen: Konzeptionen Des Psychischen Bei Guattari, Deleuze Und Lacan (1997) [German]
Filed under book | Tags: · desiring machines, machine, philosophy, philosophy of technology, psychoanalysis, technology
25 Jahre nach Erscheinen des «Anti-Ödipus», jener furiosen Abrechnung mit Strukturalismus, Marxismus und Psychoanalyse à la française von Gilles Deleuze und Félix Guattari, sind die dereinst gefeierten oder heftig befehdeten «Wunschmaschinen» erneut Thema. Frei von Exaltationen der damaligen Rezeption, fast aufreizend nüchtern rekonstruiert Henning Schmidgen den Maschinenbegriff der Autoren, wobei er den meist vernachlässigten Guattari in den Vordergrund rückt. Das ist solide, aber bleibt thematisch eng und dürfte wohl nur Experten interessieren. Anschlüsse zur zeitgenössischen Technikphilosophie werden angedeutet, nicht ausgeführt; das gleiche gilt für Bezüge zu Heidegger oder Parallelen zu Bloch. Von grösserem Interesse ist sicher, was der Autor über die Beziehungen zwischen Guattari und Lacan zu sagen hat. Den nicht so sehr am «Anti-Ödipus» Interessierten sei der Teil über Lacan ans Herz gelegt: ein sorgfältiger Nachvollzug des von Lacan im Kontext seines Seminars über E. A. Poes «Entwendeten Brief» unternommenen Versuchs, Freuds Wiederholungszwang als Wiederholungs automatismus zu rekonstruieren. Dass es Schmidgen gelingt, Lacans Analyse der Regularitäten von Wiederholungsvorgängen mittels Symbolgruppen verständlich zu erklären, ist dem Autor hoch anzurechnen.
Publisher Wilhelm Fink Verlag, Muenchen, 1997
ISBN 3770531957, 9783770531950
188 pages
Alberto Toscano: Fanaticism: On the Uses of an Idea (2010)
Filed under book | Tags: · history, philosophy, politics, psychoanalysis, religion
A genealogy of fanaticism—unearthing its long history, before it became a tool in the Clash of Civilizations.
The idea of fanaticism as a deviant or extreme variant of an already irrational set of religious beliefs is today invoked by the West in order to demonize and psychologize any non-liberal politics. Alberto Toscano’s compelling and erudite counter-history explodes this accepted interpretation in exploring the critical role fanaticism played in forming modern politics and the liberal state. Tracing its development from the traumatic Peasants’ War of early sixteenth-century Germany to contemporary Islamism, Toscano tears apart the sterile opposition of ‘reasonableness’ and fanaticism. Instead, in a radical new interpretation, he places the fanatic at the very heart of politics, arguing that historical and revolutionary transformations require a new understanding of his role. Showing how fanaticism results from the failure to formulate an adequate emancipatory politics, this illuminating history sheds new light on an idea that continues to dominate debates about faith and secularism.
Publisher Verso, 2010
ISBN 184467424X, 9781844674244
277 pages
review (Steven Poole, The Guardian)
review (Evgeni V. Pavlov, Rethinking Marxism)
review (Tom Eyers, Marx & Philosophy Review of Books)