Machinic Eros: Writings on Japan

by Félix Guattari, Gary Genosko (Editor), Jay Hetrick (Editor)

The French philosopher Félix Guattari frequently visited Japan during the 1980s and organized exchanges between French and Japanese artists and intellectuals. His immersion into the “machinic eros” of Japanese culture put him into contact with media theorists such as Tetsuo Kogawa and activists within the mini-FM community (Radio Home Run), documentary filmmakers (Mitsuo Sato), photographers (Keiichi Tahara), novelists (Kobo Abe), internationally recognized architects (Shin Takamatsu), and dancers (Min Tanaka). From pachinko parlors to high-rise highways, alongside corporate suits and among alt-culture comrades, Guattari put himself into the thick of Japanese becomings during a period in which the bubble economy continued to mutate. This collection of essays, interviews, and longer meditations shows a radical thinker exploring the architectural environment of Japan’s “machinic eros.”

Genres: Philosophy, Japan, Theory, Biography Memoir, Nonfiction, Essays

154 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2015

About the author

Pierre-Félix Guattari was a French militant, an institutional psychotherapist, philosopher, and semiotician; he founded both schizoanalysis and ecosophy. Guattari is best known for his intellectual collaborations with Gilles Deleuze, most notably Anti-Oedipus (1972) and A Thousand Plateaus (1980), the two volumes of Capitalism and Schizophrenia.

Reviews

[Aaron Schuschu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Essentially Japanese radio interviewing Guattari about his involvement in Italian pirate radio- the incident which made Negri a political prisoner.

[Karl Hallbjörnsson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very insightful at times. Skipped the last two essays for later reading, when I've finished reading mille plats and a-o

[CharlesS · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is really a remarkable short volume of translations of texts and interviews between Guattari and Japanese artists, all from the 1980s. While many of the texts have been previously published, having them together in this volume allows the reader to get a clearer sense of Guattari's commitment to things Japanese. I found part III in opening interview to a particularly clear explanation of schizoanalysjs.

[Alex Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Its hard to characterize this book since it's mainly ideas about art (from artists) and ideas from Guattari and how they intersect and influence one another. In way, this is about how generative difference can be applied to create new aesthetic effects which creates contexts that are odd and unfamiliar.

[graceofgod · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first half was particularly good.