Idiots

The History of the Homo Nullus

AvLeonhard Emmerling

Häftad, Engelska, 2026

Del i serien German List

235 kr

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Beskrivning

In a world obsessed with expertise and control, the figure of the idiot illuminates deeper truths about society.Dostoevsky and Nietzsche wrote about him; Dadaists and punks idolized him; artists like Warhol and Beuys made him their icon. From holy fool to punk rebel, the idiot—a figure that traces its roots back to the Greek idiotes, a person who was alienated from public life—has always challenged society’s norms from the margins. Far from a simple madman, the idiot is a powerful subversive, a person who disregards norms and finds profound insight in a state of unmediated inspiration. Using a cross-disciplinary approach bridging literature, religion, art, and philosophy, this volume traces a rich journey up to the present, where the idiot reemerges in a dramatic twist: a public figure who inverts social norms, confounds the boundary between private and public, and declares a new, paradoxical view of the world.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum:2026-05-05
Mått:152 x 229 x 25 mm
Vikt:399 g
Format:Häftad
Språk:Engelska
Serie:German List
Antal sidor:292
Förlag:Seagull Books London Ltd
ISBN:9781803096551
Översättare:Parnal Chirmuley

Utforska kategorier

Konstböcker inom Kultur
Kulturvetenskap inom Samhälle och politik
Socialhistoria och kulturhistoria inom Historia och arkeologi

Mer om författaren

Leonhard Emmerling has worked as an art historian in different capacities: as curator and director of art institutions in Germany and New Zealand; as teacher at art academies in Auckland, Düsseldorf, and Munich; and as advisor and director for the Goethe-Institut. His most recent publication is Aesthetics: What For?. Parnal Chirmuley is associate professor at the Centre of German Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi.

Recensioner i media

“[A] thorough account of the development of Western aesthetic theory toward a poetics of purposelessness.”

Innehållsförteckning

FOREWORD by W.J.T. MitchellINTRODUCTION – A HISTORY OF NULLITIESCREATION FROM NOTHINGNESSTHE REJECTION OF THE WORLDThe history of the word „idiot”Revaluation of valuesThe abolition of timeFOOLSThe ship of fools – Sebastian BrantPraise of folly – Erasmus of RotterdamOpicinus de Canistris and Hugo van der GoesJURODIVYJON SOME FILMS OF ANDREJ TARKOVSKITHE IDIOT IN THE ASYLUMTHE REDEEMERTHE IDIOT REVOLTINGArt of ForgettingIllness as motive and projective stimulusArt of the Mentally IllACTIONISM, FLUXUS AND POPPerformance of regressionCriticism and ShamanismCynismIndiffernce and subversionPUNKPrecursorsPunk, Industrial and Geniale DilletantenTHE PRESENCE OF THE IDIOT