Arpad Szakolczai is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at University College Cork, Ireland, and was ERC panel member 2011–2018. He is the author of Sociology, Religion and Grace: A Quest for the Renaissance, Comedy and the Public Sphere, Novels and the Sociology of the Contemporary and Permanent Liminality and Modernity, and co-author of Walking into the Void: A Historical Sociology and Political Anthropology of Walking, The Political Sociology and Anthropology of Evil: Tricksterology and From Anthropology to Social Theory: Rethinking the Social Sciences.

"The society of the trickster is a realm where we are permanently trying to pin the tail to the donkey of truth and where impartial, objective reality seems to be a distant memory. There is no better, or more fearless, guide to ‘Absurdistan’ than Arpad Szakolczai. A jaw-dropping book for our disturbed and disturbing times."Chris Rojek, Professor of Sociology, City University London, UK"At the moment we try to grasp modernity, or to relabel it as post-modernity, it eludes us. What appears as the end of history becomes obsolete as soon as it is identified. What appears as the final disenchantment becomes a new mystery. Every ‘critique’ ends in irrelevance. Arpad Szakolczai has provided a novel and deep reflection on this situation, in terms of trickster logic, the continuing illusory promise to dispel mystery which creates a substitute mystery."Stephen Turner, Distinguished University Professor, University of South Florida, USA

• Introduction Part I: Guides in Trickster Land 1. Hermann Broch: The Spell 2. Lewis Hyde: The Gift and The Trickster 3. Roberto Calasso: The Revolution and its Shipwrecking 4. Michel Serres: The Parasite, from Hermes the Communicator to Don Juan the First Hero of Modernity 5. Sándor Márai: From Krisztina a First Heroine of Modernity to an Encounter with the Russians 6. Colin Thubron: Encounters with Asia 7. Albert Camus: The Absurd Revolt Part II: Exploring the Regions of Trickster Land 8. Trickster Art: Imitativity, Effect-Mongering vs. Graceful Beauty, and Picasso 9. Trickster Thought: Magi, Mediation and Consciousness, and Sartre 10. Trickster Economy: The Fairground Origins of Infinite Substitutability 11. Trickster Politics: The Trick-Ful Joining of Representation and Election 12. Trickster Society: Welcome to Absurdistan! Conclusion

Arpad Szakolczai is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at University College Cork, Ireland, and was ERC panel member 2011–2018. He is the author of Sociology, Religion and Grace: A Quest for the Renaissance, Comedy and the Public Sphere, Novels and the Sociology of the Contemporary and Permanent Liminality and Modernity, and co-author of Walking into the Void: A Historical Sociology and Political Anthropology of Walking, The Political Sociology and Anthropology of Evil: Tricksterology and From Anthropology to Social Theory: Rethinking the Social Sciences.

"The society of the trickster is a realm where we are permanently trying to pin the tail to the donkey of truth and where impartial, objective reality seems to be a distant memory. There is no better, or more fearless, guide to ‘Absurdistan’ than Arpad Szakolczai. A jaw-dropping book for our disturbed and disturbing times."Chris Rojek, Professor of Sociology, City University London, UK"At the moment we try to grasp modernity, or to relabel it as post-modernity, it eludes us. What appears as the end of history becomes obsolete as soon as it is identified. What appears as the final disenchantment becomes a new mystery. Every ‘critique’ ends in irrelevance. Arpad Szakolczai has provided a novel and deep reflection on this situation, in terms of trickster logic, the continuing illusory promise to dispel mystery which creates a substitute mystery."Stephen Turner, Distinguished University Professor, University of South Florida, USA

• Introduction Part I: Guides in Trickster Land 1. Hermann Broch: The Spell 2. Lewis Hyde: The Gift and The Trickster 3. Roberto Calasso: The Revolution and its Shipwrecking 4. Michel Serres: The Parasite, from Hermes the Communicator to Don Juan the First Hero of Modernity 5. Sándor Márai: From Krisztina a First Heroine of Modernity to an Encounter with the Russians 6. Colin Thubron: Encounters with Asia 7. Albert Camus: The Absurd Revolt Part II: Exploring the Regions of Trickster Land 8. Trickster Art: Imitativity, Effect-Mongering vs. Graceful Beauty, and Picasso 9. Trickster Thought: Magi, Mediation and Consciousness, and Sartre 10. Trickster Economy: The Fairground Origins of Infinite Substitutability 11. Trickster Politics: The Trick-Ful Joining of Representation and Election 12. Trickster Society: Welcome to Absurdistan! Conclusion

Arpad Szakolczai is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at University College Cork, Ireland, and was ERC panel member 2011–2018. He is the author of Sociology, Religion and Grace: A Quest for the Renaissance, Comedy and the Public Sphere, Novels and the Sociology of the Contemporary and Permanent Liminality and Modernity, and co-author of Walking into the Void: A Historical Sociology and Political Anthropology of Walking, The Political Sociology and Anthropology of Evil: Tricksterology and From Anthropology to Social Theory: Rethinking the Social Sciences.

"The society of the trickster is a realm where we are permanently trying to pin the tail to the donkey of truth and where impartial, objective reality seems to be a distant memory. There is no better, or more fearless, guide to ‘Absurdistan’ than Arpad Szakolczai. A jaw-dropping book for our disturbed and disturbing times."Chris Rojek, Professor of Sociology, City University London, UK"At the moment we try to grasp modernity, or to relabel it as post-modernity, it eludes us. What appears as the end of history becomes obsolete as soon as it is identified. What appears as the final disenchantment becomes a new mystery. Every ‘critique’ ends in irrelevance. Arpad Szakolczai has provided a novel and deep reflection on this situation, in terms of trickster logic, the continuing illusory promise to dispel mystery which creates a substitute mystery."Stephen Turner, Distinguished University Professor, University of South Florida, USA

• Introduction Part I: Guides in Trickster Land 1. Hermann Broch: The Spell 2. Lewis Hyde: The Gift and The Trickster 3. Roberto Calasso: The Revolution and its Shipwrecking 4. Michel Serres: The Parasite, from Hermes the Communicator to Don Juan the First Hero of Modernity 5. Sándor Márai: From Krisztina a First Heroine of Modernity to an Encounter with the Russians 6. Colin Thubron: Encounters with Asia 7. Albert Camus: The Absurd Revolt Part II: Exploring the Regions of Trickster Land 8. Trickster Art: Imitativity, Effect-Mongering vs. Graceful Beauty, and Picasso 9. Trickster Thought: Magi, Mediation and Consciousness, and Sartre 10. Trickster Economy: The Fairground Origins of Infinite Substitutability 11. Trickster Politics: The Trick-Ful Joining of Representation and Election 12. Trickster Society: Welcome to Absurdistan! Conclusion