Synopses & Reviews
Over a diverse career as a professor of architecture, urbanist, film critic, military historian, and peace strategist, Paul Virilio has produced over a dozen influential books that chart new territory on the impact of new technologies on society, war and the media, the virtualization of international politics and most notably, for his theories on speed as the dominant element of modern life.
Representing the next wave of French social theorists, Virilio's unique perspectives on modern society will capture the attention of the social sciences, computer sciences, communications and humanities as well as general readers interested in the impact of new technology on everyday life. In this remarkable collection of English language translations, The Virilio Reader contains five new translations: The Suicidal State, The Critical Space, The Strategy Beyond, Polar Inertia and The Desert Screen, and an interview conducted by Der Derian with Virilio in a Paris café, along with his other most influential works that have appeared over his vast career.
Also includes: Military Space, The State of Emergency, A Traveling Shot Over Eighty Years, The Vision Machine, The Art of the Motor, and Continental Drift.
Review
"... the material could not be in better editorial hands. If there is a scholar within contemporary international relations who has done as much as Virilio outside it to investigate these sort of concerns, and who has the breadth of knowledge and the linguistic and intellectual engagement to offer an overall account of Virilio's corpus, it is Der Derian. His introduction to this volume is characteristically well written, thoughtful, wryly amusing and a model of concise exposition. His interview with Virilio, which forms two chapters of the book, is both a real dialogue and at the same time an illuminating tour d'horizon of Virilio's concerns. Whether you agree or disagree, with Virilio or Der Derian or both, try this book for you will be confronted with an elegant sampling of wide and pespicacious oeuvre that deals with important and difficult issues: a Virilio reader indeed." Nicholas Rengger, University of St Andrews
Synopsis
First English language collection of the writing of French social critic, Paul Virilio. This volume represents his most important work, including five new translations and an exclusive interview with Virlio conducted by the editor reflecting the diverse career of this great social commentator on life in the late twentieth century.
About the Author
James Der Derian is Professor of Political Science at University of Massachusetts - Amherst. He specialises in international relations, social theory, cultural and media studies. He is the author of Anti-diplomacy: Spies, Terror, Speed and War (Blackwell, 1992).
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments.
Preface.
Introduction by James Der Derian.
1. Interview: Is the Author Dead?.
2. Military Space.
3. The Suicidal State.
4. The State of Emergency.
5. The Critical Space.
6. The Strategy Beyond.
7. A Travelling Shot Over Eighty Years.
8. Polar Inertia.
9. The Vision Machine.
10. The Art of the Motor.
11. The Desert Screen.
12. Continental Drift.
A Select Bibliography of Works by Paul Virilio.
Index