eContact! 14(3): Turntablism (2013) [English, French]

“In this issue of eContact!, interviews with contemporary turntablists show the many performative approaches possible with the turntable (accompanied by audio and video examples). Historical journeys back to the invention of the first devices to record and play back sound present the precursors of turntablism and offer a reflection on cultural and technical changes and similarities throughout the last century. Readers will even be encouraged to experiment with turntablism themselves, with instructions how to create their own personal record player out of cardboard. The many perspectives on sound creation with the turntable featured in this edition give an idea of the richness of the genre and the fascinating possibilities of the turntable.” (from the Editorial)

With contributions by Karin Weissenbrunner, Michael Heumann, Christopher DeLaurenti, Wolfgang Fuchs, Institut für Feinmotorik, Ian Andrews, Michael Hansen, Ignaz Schick, Daniel Neumann, Sylvain Fortier, and Andreas Engström. The issue also contains audiovisual galleries of the works by Alexandre Bellenger, Maria Chavez, Billy Roisz and Vinyl Terror & Horror, as well as wiki entries, columns, reviews and electroacoustic jukebox.

Editor jef chippewa
Publisher Canadian Electroacoustic Community, Montreal, January 2013

Turntable wiki (CEC’s open resource)

View online (English, HTML articles)
View online (French, HTML articles)

François Cusset: French Theory: How Foucault, Derrida, Deleuze, & Co. Transformed the Intellectual Life of the United States (2003–) [FR, EN]

“During the last three decades of the twentieth century, a disparate group of radical French thinkers achieved an improbable level of influence and fame in the United States. Compared by at least one journalist to the British rock ‘n’ roll invasion, the arrival of works by Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, Jean-François Lyotard, Jean Baudrillard, Gilles Deleuze, and Félix Guattari on American shores in the late 1970s and 1980s caused a sensation.

Outside the academy, “French theory” had a profound impact on the era’s emerging identity politics while also becoming, in the 1980s, the target of right-wing propagandists. At the same time in academic departments across the country, their poststructuralist form of radical suspicion transformed disciplines from literature to anthropology to architecture. By the 1990s, French theory was woven deeply into America’s cultural and intellectual fabric.

French Theory is the first comprehensive account of the American fortunes of these unlikely philosophical celebrities. François Cusset looks at why America proved to be such fertile ground for French theory, how such demanding writings could become so widely influential, and the peculiarly American readings of these works. Reveling in the gossipy history, Cusset also provides a lively exploration of the many provocative critical practices inspired by French theory. Ultimately, he dares to shine a bright light on the exultation of these thinkers to assess the relevance of critical theory to social and political activism today—showing, finally, how French theory has become inextricably bound with American life.”

Publisher La Découverte, Paris, 2003
ISBN 2707146730
373 pages

English edition
Translated by Jeff Fort, With Josephine Berganza and Marlon Jones
Publisher University of Minnesota Press, 2008
ISBN 0816647321, 9780816647323
388 pages

Reviews: Jennifer Ferng (Leonardo), Juliet J. Fall (Foucault Studies), Ethan Kleinberg (NPDR), Bridie Lonie (Junctures, FR).

Publisher (FR)
Publisher (EN)

French Theory: Foucault, Derrida, Deleuze & Cie et les mutations de la vie intellectuelle aux États-Unis. (French)
French Theory: How Foucault, Derrida, Deleuze, & Co. Transformed the Intellectual Life of the United States. (English)

Auguste Villiers de l’Isle-Adam: L’Ève future (1886-) [French]

The young Lord Ewald is close to suicide because of his beautiful but emotionally and intellectually stuck fiancée. His friend, engineer Thomas Edison, replies by offering to construct for him a machine-woman in the form of his fiancée but without any of her bothersome personality.

The Future Eve (or Tomorrow’s Eve) has been discussed as a key text in the Decadent movement, and as an important work of 19th century science fiction, known for popularizing the term android [Andreid]. It is particularly criticized for its misogyny.

Publisher De Brunhoff, Paris, 1886
via Daniela Cascella

wikipedia (incl. plot, in English)
review (Boyd Petersen, The New York Review of Science Fiction)
commentary (Verena Kuni, MediaArtNet)
commentary (T. Ross Leasure, Latch)

PDF (1886 edition, multiple formats, Gutenberg.org)
PDF (1909 edition, multiple formats, Archive.org)