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Books > Language & Literature > Literature: texts > Drama texts, plays > From 1900
An imagination of possibilities, of miscalculations, of futures
off-kilter "Probability is a chimera, its head is true, its tail a
suggestion. Futurologists attempt to compel the head to eat the
tail (ouroboros). Here, though, we will try to wag the tail."
-Vilem Flusser Two years after his Vampyroteuthis Infernalis, the
philosopher Vilem Flusser engaged in another thought experiment: a
collection of twenty-two "scenarios for the future" to be produced
as computer-generated media, or technical images, that would break
the imaginative logjam in conceiving the social, political, and
economic future of the universe. What If? is not just an
"impossible journey" to which Flusser invites us in the first
scenario; it functions also as a distorting mirror held up to
humanity. Flusser's disarming scenarios of an Anthropocene fraught
with nightmares offer new visions that range from the scientific to
the fantastic to the playful and whimsical. Each essay reflects our
present sense of understanding the world, considering the
exploitation of nature and the dangers of global warming,
overpopulation, and blind reliance on the promises of scientific
knowledge and invention. What If? offers insight into the radical
futures of a slipstream Anthropocene that have much to do with
speculative fiction, with Flusser's concept of design as "crafty"
or slippery, and with art and the immense creative potential of
failure versus reasonable, "good" computing or calculability. As
such, the book is both a warning and a nudge to imagine what we may
yet become and be.
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An Enemy of the People
(Paperback)
Henrik Ibsen; Adapted by Mirna Wabi-Sabi; Illustrated by Izabela Moreira
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R530
R484
Discovery Miles 4 840
Save R46 (9%)
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Ships in 18 - 22 working days
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Only 23-years-old when he directed his extraordinary debut feature
Gummo, Harmony Korine has since continued to serve notice that he
is the riskiest, most radical young talent in independent US film.
This collection of three screenplays displays his defiantly
unorthodox approach to film form, as well as the unclassifiable
imaginative energy that drives all of his work.
'This remarkable play is about a nightmare all women must have
dreamed at some time, and most men...' Ronald Bryden, Observer
(1967) 'Joe Egg is unlike any play I've seen; concerns about
whether it's dated fade next to the claims that can now be made for
it. It's in the collisions between pious and rogue thoughts that
the play's energy lies. We don't know what to feel. Which is why,
once seen, Joe Egg won't go away.' Robert Butler, Independent on
Sunday (1993)
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Nerves
(Paperback)
Darren Callahan
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R217
Discovery Miles 2 170
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Ships in 18 - 22 working days
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