Reading Simulacra: Fatal Theories for Postmodernity

by Michael W. Smith

Reading Simulacra analyzes the ways in which our culture has become fatally immersed in simulation. Television, the Internet, virtual reality, and other advancements in technology and information processing have brought about an order in which simulations and digital images permeate our experiences of the world so deeply that their distinctions from reality appear seamless. Through a careful study of some of the most important postmodern theorists, particularly Jean Baudrillard and Deleuze and Guattari, this book puts forth two different communication strategies - "seduction" and "rupture" - for a world where the difference between what is real and what is simulated has disappeared. In an attempt to discern meaning from this contemporary situation, M. W. Smith examines a range of contemporary texts that have, in the past, resisted traditional analysis. These include the O. J. Simpson trial, Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers, Reese Williams's A Pair of Eyes, Kathy Acker's Blood and Guts in High School and Don Quixote, Clarence Major's My Amputations, and Baudrillard's America - all of which represent the obscenity of hypersignified existence.

142 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2001

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Michael W. Smith is Professor of Literacy Education, College of Education, Temple University.
- Ph.D. University of Chicago. Special Field: Curriculum and Instruction.
- M.A.T. University of Chicago. Major Emphases: English and Education
- B.A. University of Chicago. Major: English

Reviews

[Luna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book investigates simulacra as they appear in a postmodern world. It mostly refers to the philosophies of Baudrillard and Nietzsche in order to attempt answering questions such as: do we still have a strong grip? If not what replaces reality to? or rather what sort of reality are we exposed to in the postmodern world?This book is regrettably short, but still enjoyable, but I think that one still should be familiar with Baudrillard and Nietzsche in order to enjoy it.