Demon of Writing Powers and Failures of Paperwork

Name: Demon of Writing Powers and Failures of Paperwork
Availability: InStock
ISBN: 9781935408260

ISBN-10: 1935408267

ISBN-13: 9781935408260

Edition: 2012

Authors: Ben Kafka

List price: $34.00

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Description:

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,…

Book details

List price: $34.00
Copyright year: 2012
Publisher: Zone Books
Publication date: 11/27/2012
Binding: Hardcover
Pages: 184
Size: 6.30" wide x 9.25" long x 0.77" tall
Weight: 1.078
Language: English

Ben Kafka is an Assistant Professor of Media History and Theory at New York University and a candidate at the Institute for Psychoanalytic Training and Research (IPTAR), a component society of the International Psychoanalytical Association. He works with adult and adolescent patients through the IPTAR Clinical Center and the NYC Free Clinic.



Introduction


The Psychic Life of Paperwork



The Disciplined State


"The National Assembly Doesn't Give a Damn"


"Shareholders in the Great Social Enterprise"


The Disciplined State


"A Stranger to Everything Happening"



The Demon of Writing


"The Demon of Writing"


"The Physical Impossibility of Doing Otherwise"


"Tiresome Details," "Barbarous Concision"


"As Simple as It Was Bizarre"


Matter, Form, and Power



The State of Want


Writing and Indifference


"Women and White Paper"


Is Tocqueville Kidding?


A Bitter Joke



The Bureaucratic Medium


The Case of Inspector, von Zuccalmaglio


Smashing


Mistakes Are Made


Withdrawal Slip


From the Desk of Roland Barthes


Conclusion


The Wish-Utensil


Acknowledgments


Notes


Index