In memory of Jean Baudrillard, who died today, I am posting an essay of mine about him, from 2003, which I gave as a talk once, but which has never been published. The essay is critical of Baudrillard, but I don’t think it is disrespectful. Download it here.
Book Review of Jean Baudrillard’s Pataphysics
Reviewed by Joseph Nechvatal
at The International Journal of Baudrillard Studies (IJBS)
http://www.ubishops.ca/BaudrillardStudies/vol4_1/nechvatal.htm
so, what about Baudrillard as mourner of the Real? Perhaps a bad act of mourning, in the Derridean sense? And if so, what would it mean to mourn Baudrillard?
In terms of the top 20 French theorists, where would you place Baudrillard?
Regarding the footnote in the Baudrillard paper where one can find an abbreviated list of the top opening passages in american literature – I’d like to suggest that “ABANDON ALL HOPE YE WHO ENTER HERE is scrawled in blood red lettering on the side of the Chemical Bank near the corner of Eleventh and First and is in print large enough to be seen from the backseat of the cab as it lurches forward in the traffic leaving Wall Street and just as Timothy Pierce notices the words a bus pulls up, the advertisement for Les Miserables on its side blocking his view, but Price who is with Pierce & Pierce and twenty-six doesn’t seem to care because he tells the driver he will give him five dollars to turn up the radio, “Be My Baby” on WYNN, and the driver, black, not American, does so.” be considered for the list.
Oh you know, I did not know that he died. I am so glad I came by your blog and will read your essay. He was interesting and mindblowing even if difficult or off.
Hello everyone,
I am doing some research on Baudrillard and truth. Does anyone fancy helping me by filling out a little e-questionnaire/debate type thing? Or would anyone object if I posted it here so you could rip it apart comunally?
Simon
The center of gravity in the production of goods has shifted from tangible to intangible assets. Communication has entered as a productive force, represented by information flows, communicated chiefly by brand symbols and images. As a result, the concept of Veblan and Giffen goods is in need of a thorough update and expansion. Semiology (the science of signs) provides a formal theory to examine behavior between producers and consumers in contemporary capitalism.
http://knol.google.com/k/james-pruett/the-consumption-of-status-and-signs/806cui3nlxoq/3#