Monday, November 11, 2024

The more the contradition develops: footnotes to "Marx's Fetters: a remedial reading" -- a pop-up book


Last June, I posted a book proposal to EconoSpeak: Marx's Fetters and the Realm of Freedom: a remedial reading. It was a lightly revised version of a proposal that I had earlier sent to two publishers who had rejected it. I realized that I didn't really wnat to endure the ordeal of pitching the book to successive prospects only to win the opportunity, if successful, to work tediously on a manuscript that would appeal to few readers and earn me little or no royalties.

Instead, I made this pop-up book. (Click on the images to enlarge.) I think it was the right choice. I intend to produce 1000 [1001] copies of the book, the numbers alluding to 1000 cranes and 1001 Arabian Nights. As I mention in the introduction below, the method for this project comes from Walter Benjamin. In addition to "theory of knowledge; theory of progress" text mentioned in the intro, my approach also inspired by his "Attested Auditor of Books" from One Way Street and his reflections on "the various modes of communication" in Some Motifs in Baudelaire. The graphic theme of the billboards is another story that will have to wait for another post.


Preface to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy
Notebook VII, Grundrisse
Notebook IV, Grundrisse
Preface to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy
Notebook IV, Grundrisse
Notebook VII, Grundrisse
Preface to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy
Capital, volume 3

No comments: