Dream Machines is a history of the ways in which machines have been imagined. It considers seven different kinds of speculative, projected or impossible machine: machines for teleportation, dream-production, sexual pleasure and medical treatment and cure, along with 'influencing machines', invisibility machines and perpetual motion machines.
Why do most women carry handbags, while men rely on pockets? Why do so many houses have bags of bags? And why do we 'let the cat out the bag' or 'give someone the sack'? This title embarks on a historical, philosophical and linguistic journey that explores our relationships with the curious things with which we have a forgotten but daily intimacy.
Take a deep breath. Air—without it, life on Earth would cease to exist. Though not usually seen, its presence is relied upon. At once both ethereal and physical, air has been associated with flight and spirit, and yet it has progressively become a territory that can be claimed through communications, warfare, travel, and scientific exploration. At the same time, air is no longer a completely reliable part of our daily life: like water, it has become an environmental element that must be watched closely for quality and purity. A Matter of Air investigates the meanings of air over the last three centuries, including our modern concern over emissions and climate change. Steven Connor looks at the human relationship with air, both positive and negative. His explorations include the dangers posed by radio atmospherics, poison gas, and haze as well as our continued fascination with effervescence and explosives. Drawing ideas from religion, science, art, literature, and philosophy, A Matter of Air creates a comprehensive history of the human perception of air. Thoroughly researched and written with wit and quirky enthusiasm, the book will appeal to a wide range of general readers interested in the environment, human history, and our most essential aspects of life.
In this astute introduction to postmodernist debates, Steven Connor explores the postmodern condition across disciplines and genres as diverse as philosophy, political theory, architecture, art, photography, literature, drama, film, TV, popular culture, media and contemporary cultural politics. Rather than simply arguing 'for' or 'against' postmodernism, Connor's book treats the postmodern debate as a self-reflexive phenomenon, whose nature and form themselves reflect the conditions of the postmodern. As well as looking at the content of this debate about postmodernism Connor also considers the institutional conditions and intellectual regroupings which frame postmodern theory of different kinds. Connor provocatively argues that postmodern theory, although it proclaims a new openness and diversity in global culture, itself acts as a form of intellectual containment and limits such openness. He concludes with an analysis of the nature and effects of contemporary critical languages, and a consideration of the possibilities for a cultural-political ethics after postmodernism.