ANNOUNCEMENT: Enigmas and Failed Interpretations
Deep Dives
Explore related topics with these Wikipedia articles, rewritten for enjoyable reading:
-
Jean Laplanche
14 min read
Laplanche is central to the article's theoretical framework, particularly his concept of 'enigmatic messages' which the author uses to analyze cultural phenomena. Most readers likely know Freud but not this influential post-Freudian psychoanalyst.
-
2001: A Space Odyssey
14 min read
The black monolith from this Kubrick film serves as the author's central archetype for understanding cultural enigmas. The film's production history, philosophical interpretations, and cultural impact provide rich context.
-
Speculative realism
13 min read
Mentioned as one of the cultural objects examined through the lens of enigmas. This contemporary philosophical movement challenges human-centered approaches to metaphysics, connecting to the article's themes of anti-interpretational phenomena.
Whilst waiting for editors, publishers, colleagues and other uncanny figures of the philosophy industry to get back to me, I decided to put together a small booklet: Enigmas and Failed Interpretations: Cultural Impasses from Laplanche and Populism to Kubrick.
As an early Christmas gift, and as a sign of gratitude, I will send a copy of this booklet to each of my paid subscribers. It is also available to buy online here in case you want to get one directly, and those who decide to sign up as paid subscribers now will also get a complementary copy.
The text looks at a broad spectrum of cultural objects - Woody Allen, speculative realism, the varieties of late global capitalism, sci-fi literature, friendship and Badiou - from the perspective of ‘enigmas’. The archetype of this enigma, I argue, is the black monolith in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, an imposing and obscure object refusing any interpretation, which we are continuously being confronted with today. Key to understanding the cultural impasses of today’s enigmas is, I argue, the psychoanalyst Jean Laplanche. Laplanche and Kubrick therefore form the lens by which today’s political and cultural inconsistencies are approached.
I am also aware that the cover looks like an Evangelical Church pamphlet - this is intentional. I will however send a copy to the first person who tells me what the image on the cover is. If you are looking for a very inexplicable Christmas present, or if you are simply curious about the sci-fi structure of today’s cultural anomalies, please do get a copy. The price has been set as low as possible to still offset printing and production costs - in other words for me to still be able to ‘play the game’.
The US version can be found here: Enigmas and Failed Interpretations - US.
The UK version can be found here: Enigmas and Failed Interpretations - UK.
I also include the blurb for Enigmas and Failed Interpretations here:
...If the world seems to be getting stranger and stranger, it is not because we have failed to interpret it correctly, but that the world today comprises an essential anomaly, an untraversable anti-interpretational component.
In politics, film, and the cultural sphere as a whole, a discontinuity has emerged. Something appears profoundly non-hermeneutic. Right-wing populism may be faltering, but this paradoxically only adds to its potential threat. It may
This excerpt is provided for preview purposes. Full article content is available on the original publication.