Writing an introduction to accelerationism in 2018 feels a bit odd. In that, were it as pervasive a cultural virus as many of its adherents espoused, it should no longer require an introduction. This seems like some kind of evidence that suggests there’s something lack in the idea itself, at least as it relates to… Keep Reading
In the name of feminism, ‘Nature’ shall no longer be a refuge of injustice, or a basis for any political justification whatsoever! If nature is unjust, change nature! — Laboria Cuboniks Xenofeminism draws on a multiplicity of influences and has implications for just as many areas in philosophy, the pharmaceutical industry, music, biology, mathematics,… Keep Reading
Over the last few years, Ark Books enjoyed a fruitful collaboration with the all star team at KBH Læser. In 2015 we hosted reading by and a debate on love between Pia Tafdrup and Caspar Eric hosted by long-time friend of the store, Rasmus Varnich Blumensaat. With the introduction of the Ark Audio podcasting platform… Keep Reading
Angela Nagle’s Kill All Normies: Online Culture Wars from 4chan and Tumblr to Trump and the Alt-right (2017) is at once insightful and ambitious, but also somewhat hubristic and perhaps too narrow in focus. In the book, Nagle explores the relationships between particular internet subcultures and the rise of right-wing nationalist politics, particularly in the… Keep Reading
Satin Island by Tom McCarthy is not Kafkaesque as the recent review by Dr. Macon Holt suggests. To illustrate why, the following essay will attempt two things: First, a brief look at what Kafkaesque actually means. The argument here is that Kafka’s literature centers on the (Lacanian) big Other and thus the dictionary definition of the Kafkaesque… Keep Reading
I want to talk about theory-fiction, an obscure practice that has been around for a while but has recently reared itself back into view. While we could take this to mean theory heavy pieces of auto-fiction such as I Love Dick or, according to the unflattering assessment of the critic James Woods, the hysterical realists1 (works… Keep Reading
“It’s of some interest that the lively arts of the millennial U.S.A. treat anhedonia and internal emptiness as hip and cool. It’s maybe the vestiges of the Romantic glorification of Weltschmerz, which means world-weariness or hip ennui. […] Forget so-called peer-pressure. It’s more like peer-hunger. No? We enter a spiritual puberty where we snap to… Keep Reading
“Emancipatory politics must always destroy the appearance of a ‘natural order’, must reveal what is presented as necessary and inevitable to be a mere contingency, just as it must make what was previously deemed to be impossible seem attainable.” – Mark Fisher 2017 has already turned out to be as cruel as its predecessor. With… Keep Reading