PUBLICATION INFORMATION

12 June 2009 • Guide Dog Books
208 pages • Trade Paperback & Hardcover • 6" x 9"
$29.95 (HC) • ISBN 978-1933293721
$14.95 (PB) • ISBN 978-1933293738

PRESS KIT FILES

Press Release • Excerpt • Contents

CONTACT

Publisher: Jennifer Barnes
Author: D. Harlan Wilson

COVER

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BOOK DESCRIPTION

In Technologized Desire, D. Harlan Wilson measures the evolution of the human condition as it has been represented by postcapitalist science fiction, which has consistently represented the body and subjectivity as ultraviolent, pathological phenomena. Operating under the assumption that selfhood is a technology—i.e. a creative projection from the body encompassing everything from language to electronic machinery—Wilson studies the emergence of selfhood in philosophy (Deleuze & Guattari), fiction (William S. Burroughs' cut-up novels and Max Barry's Jennifer Government), and cinema (Army of Darkness, Vanilla Sky, and the Matrix trilogy) in an attempt to portray the schizophrenic rigor of twenty-first century mediatized life. We are obligated by our own pathological unconsciouses to always choose to be enslaved by capital and its hi-tech arsenal. The universe of consumer-capitalism, Wilson argues, is an illusory prison from which there is no escape—despite the fact that it is illusory.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Acknowledgement is made to the following academic journals in which some of the chapters in Technologized Desire first appeared:

Chapter 1 was originally published as “Terminal Constructedness & the Technology of the Self in Cameron Crowe’s Vanilla Sky” in Extrapolation 47.2 (Summer 2006): 259-79.

Chapter 3 was published as “Schizosophy of the Medieval Dead: Sam Raimi’s Army of Darkness” in Journal of Popular Culture 41.3 (June 2008): 509-35.

Chp. 4 was published as “‘Capitalizm’ Unbound in Max Barry’s Jennifer Government” in Foundation: The International Review of Science Fiction 36.99 (Spring 2007): 63-77.

PRAISE

"In Technologized Desire, the cultural pathologies that mark the panic ecstasy and terminal doom of the posthuman condition are powerfully rehearsed in the language of science fiction. Here, images of prosthetic subjects, zombies, cut-ups and armies of the medieval dead actually slip off the pages of literature to become the terminal hauntology of these technologized times. Technologized Desire is nothing less than a brilliant data screen of future memories. Read it well: it's a survival guide for bodies flatlined by the speed of accelerating technology." Arthur Kroker, author of The Postmodern Scene and Panic Encyclopedia

"Describing an impressively wide arc from high-toned cultural theory to cyberpunk fiction to techno-centered cinema, Wilson advances his theory that 'the only choice available to the postmodern subject ... is rooted in a dependency on ... the ultraviolent schizophrenic production of the commodity-self.' Technologized Desire is a bright, brazen, evocative reading of technology, the body, and the art that is inaccurately labeled science 'fiction'." Harold Jaffe, author of Straight Razor, 15 Serial Killers and Beyond the Techno-Cave: A Guerilla Writer's Guide to Post-Milennial Culture

"D. Harlan Wilson’s Technologized Desire: Selfhood and the Body in Postcapitalist Science Fiction is a fantastic book. One of the finest theoretical examinations in the field, it is also eminently readable and highly incisive. With this, Wilson has written a major work, one that will stand out (and above) in science fiction studies. Both great fun and wonderfully intelligent, how could you go wrong? Highly recommended.” Gary Hoppenstand, editor of The Journal of Popular Culture

“Postmodern analysis of science fiction doesn’t get any better than this. Jump in and see how far down the rabbit hole goes.” William Irwin, editor of The Matrix and Philosophy: Welcome to the Desert of the Real and More Matrix and Philosophy: Revolutions and Reloaded Decoded

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

D. Harlan Wilson is an award-winning novelist, short story writer, literary critic, screenwriter, and associate professor of English at Wright State University-Lake Campus. Hundreds of his stories and essays have appeared in magazines, journals and anthologies throughout the world in several languages, and he is the editor-in-chief of The Dream People, a journal of irreal texts. His first novel, Dr. Identity, or, Farewell to Plaqudemia, received the Wonderland Book Award for best novel of 2007, and his latest novel, Peckinpah: An Ultraviolent Romance, has been long-listed for the Bram Stoker Award. Additionally, Wilson's short film The Cocktail Party, directed by Brandon Duncan, won multiple awards in 2007 at film festivals and conferences. For more information, visit www.dharlanwilson.com or contact Wilson's publicist Stanley Ashenbach.