Geoffrey Winthrop-Young – författare

With books such as Discourse Networks and Gramophone, Film, Typewriter and the collection Literature, Media, Information Systems, Friedrich Kittler has established himself as one of the world''s most influential media theorists. He is also one of the most controversial and misunderstood.

Kittler and the Media offers students of media theory an introduction to Kittler''s basic ideas. Following an introduction that situates Kittler''s work against the tumultuous background of German 20th-century history (from the Second World War and the cultural upheaval of the late 1960s to reunification), the book provides succinct summaries of Kittler''s early discourse-analytical work inspired by French post-structuralism, his media-related theorising and his most recent writings on cultural techniques and the notation systems of Ancient Greece.

This clear and engaging overview of a fascinating theorist will be welcomed by students and scholars alike of media, communication and cultural studies.

With books such as Discourse Networks and Gramophone, Film, Typewriter and the collection Literature, Media, Information Systems, Friedrich Kittler has established himself as one of the world's most influential media theorists. He is also one of the most controversial and misunderstood. Kittler and the Media offers students of media theory an introduction to Kittler's basic ideas. Following an introduction that situates Kittler's work against the tumultuous background of German 20th-century history (from the Second World War and the cultural upheaval of the late 1960s to reunification), the book provides succinct summaries of Kittler's early discourse-analytical work inspired by French post-structuralism, his media-related theorising and his most recent writings on cultural techniques and the notation systems of Ancient Greece.This clear and engaging overview of a fascinating theorist will be welcomed by students and scholars alike of media, communication and cultural studies.

With books such as Discourse Networks and Gramophone, Film, Typewriter and the collection Literature, Media, Information Systems, Friedrich Kittler has established himself as one of the world's most influential media theorists. He is also one of the most controversial and misunderstood. Kittler and the Media offers students of media theory an introduction to Kittler's basic ideas. Following an introduction that situates Kittler's work against the tumultuous background of German 20th-century history (from the Second World War and the cultural upheaval of the late 1960s to reunification), the book provides succinct summaries of Kittler's early discourse-analytical work inspired by French post-structuralism, his media-related theorising and his most recent writings on cultural techniques and the notation systems of Ancient Greece.This clear and engaging overview of a fascinating theorist will be welcomed by students and scholars alike of media, communication and cultural studies.

Operation Valhalla collects eighteen texts by German media theorist Friedrich Kittler on the close connections between war and media technology. In these essays, public lectures, interviews, literary analyses, and autobiographical musings, Kittler outlines how war has been a central driver of media's evolution, from Prussia's wars against Napoleon to the so-called War on Terror. Covering an eclectic array of topics, he charts the intertwined military and theatrical histories of the searchlight and the stage lamp, traces the microprocessor's genealogy back to the tank, shows how rapid-fire guns brought about new standards for optics and acoustics, and reads Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow to upset established claims about the relationship between war, technology, and history in the twentieth century. Throughout, Operation Valhalla foregrounds the outsize role of war in media history as well as Kittler's importance as a daring and original thinker.

Operation Valhalla collects eighteen texts by German media theorist Friedrich Kittler on the close connections between war and media technology. In these essays, public lectures, interviews, literary analyses, and autobiographical musings, Kittler outlines how war has been a central driver of media's evolution, from Prussia's wars against Napoleon to the so-called War on Terror. Covering an eclectic array of topics, he charts the intertwined military and theatrical histories of the searchlight and the stage lamp, traces the microprocessor's genealogy back to the tank, shows how rapid-fire guns brought about new standards for optics and acoustics, and reads Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow to upset established claims about the relationship between war, technology, and history in the twentieth century. Throughout, Operation Valhalla foregrounds the outsize role of war in media history as well as Kittler's importance as a daring and original thinker.

Operation Valhalla collects eighteen texts by German media theorist Friedrich Kittler on the close connections between war and media technology. In these essays, public lectures, interviews, literary analyses, and autobiographical musings, Kittler outlines how war has been a central driver of media''s evolution, from Prussia''s wars against Napoleon to the so-called War on Terror. Covering an eclectic array of topics, he charts the intertwined military and theatrical histories of the searchlight and the stage lamp, traces the microprocessor''s genealogy back to the tank, shows how rapid-fire guns brought about new standards for optics and acoustics, and reads Thomas Pynchon''s Gravity''s Rainbow to upset established claims about the relationship between war, technology, and history in the twentieth century. Throughout, Operation Valhalla foregrounds the outsize role of war in media history as well as Kittler''s importance as a daring and original thinker.

Friedrich Kittler (1943-2011) war einer der umstrittensten deutschen Theoretiker des 20. und beginnenden 21. Jahrhunderts. Im Kern seiner Theorie, wo Diskursanalyse, Medienwissenschaft, Musik- und Mathematikgeschichte zusammenfließen, steckt eine technisch fundierte Seinsgeschichte, die kühl berechnet, was es mit dem "Menschen" und der "Gesellschaft" auf sich hat angesichts jener "Aufschreibesysteme" und Verschaltungen, die diese Rede erst ermöglichen. So radikal sich Kittlers Texte ausnehmen, repräsentativ sind sie sowohl für den Umbau der Geisteswissenschaften wie für eine generationsspezifische Nostalgie nach einer Kulturrevolution aus Rausch und Regelanalyse. Und so technologisch informiert sie auch sind, mit ihren Anschlüssen an Hegel und Heidegger, an Nietzsche und die Vorsokratiker erweisen sie sich als durchaus traditionsbewusst.