kittler friedrich gramophone film typewriter

8/9/2019 Kittler Friedrich Gramophone Film Typewriter

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GRAMOPONE, ILM, TYPEWRITER

Tranlated with an ntroduction by

G E O R E Y W N H R O PY O U N G A N D M C H A E L W U Z

S A N O R D U N E R S Y P R E S S

S A N O R D C A L O R N A


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Gramophone, Film Typewriter wa igally pblhe i Gema 86 a Grammophon Film Typewriter 86 Bkma Be,Beli

Saf Uvey eSaf, Calfa

by he Ba f Tuee f he Lela Saf J Uveye he Ue Sae f Amea

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TRANSLATORS' ACNOLEDGMENTS

A ansaion by Doohea von Mcke of ies Inodcion was spbished in Ocbe (8) 08 The decision o podce oown vesion does no ipy any ciicis of he Ocbe ansaion(which was of gea hep o s) b eey eecs o decision o binghe Inodcion in ine wih he bk of he book o podce a syisi-cay coheen ex

A ansaions of he piay exs inepoaed by ie ae oown wih he excepion of he foowing Rike Pia Sond hasbeen epined fo Raine Maia Rike Seeced Ws, vo Pse,ans G Caig Hoson (New Yok New Diecions ) by New Diecions Pbishing Copoaion; sed wih peis-sion. The ansaion of Heidegges ece on he ypewie oiginayappeaed in Main Heidegge Pamedes, ans And Schwe andRichad Rocewicz (Booingon Indiana Univ Pess ) 80888

We wod ike o acknowedge he hep we have eceived fo ne Phiips Sefan Schee Candadai Seshachai Shiin Shenassa SevenTabeneck David Topson The Heingway Ts and he Reseach andPofessiona Gowh Coiee of Webe Sae Univesiy and he Ine-ibay Loan Divisions a he Univesiy of Biish Cobia and WebeSae Univesiy

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CONTENTS

Tanslaos Inodcion XPeace XXXX

Inodcion

Gaophone

Fl Typewe 8

Noes

Biblogaphy


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RANSLAORS' NRODCON Fedch Ke ad Meda Dscuse Aayss

was te Gemans tse dsastus ele w st dseed tat slag easand byduts mgt als unt as leanng but dubt we an blame any

ne ae natn n atula settng dums and dustbns abe te teasueabnets slas

S The Camford Visiaion

M E D A AWAK E N N G S H E U S U A L S U S P E C S

In Ocobe in he s fall o f he wa sdens and inscos a heUnvesiy of Toono abandoned hei classes o sen o he eney Alodspeake nsalled on a see cose o Vcoa College was boadcas-ing a speech by Adolf Hie who in he wake of Geanys vcoy ove

Poand was exhoing hose sl deded enogh o esis h o ca qis. Aong he adence was a esezed casscs

e stdent eement staat sentenes langed ut and eebeated andased ea te alng sees ate sees ldng e us batteng us aldwnng us and yet ket us ted tee lstenng t a egn tngue w wesmew uld neeteless magne tat we undestd Ts a sell ad beentansmtted n te twnklng an eye ass tusands mles ad been autmatally ked u and amled and ued e us

Haf a ceny lae Eic Havelockwhose wok on he Hellenic shiffo oaiy o eay eacy had becoe eqed eadng fo edia andconicaion hsoianseconed his wieless ape n an aepo explain why he ealy 0s wnessed a sdden inees in he hheo

Xl


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x asats Itduct

negleced opic of oaliy. In ve poinen exs shedding lighon he ole of oal counicaion appeaed wihin welve onhs LaPese sauvage Claude LviSauss he Gutebeg Gaaxy MashallMcLuhan Ama Speces ad Evut Ens May The Conse-

quences of Lieacy ack Goody and Ian Wa and Havelock's ownPeface t Pat Wha unied hese publicaions Havelock agued washe fac ha hei auhos belonged o he s geneaion o be shaped bya wold in which a pinbiased edia ecology had been aleed by newways of ecoding soing and ansiing sounds and voices includinghe adiogenic Ausian dialec of a Gean dicao Indeed how coulda geneaion of lisenes acousically nuued on showave boadcassof eside chas buning aiships Maian invasions and calls fo oalwa no gow up o ponde he changing elaionship beween speech andwiing? Hee was he oving ouh he esonan ea and nohingoe ou sevans o ou ases; neve he quie hand he eleciveeye Hee was oaliy indeed ebon.

Media he opening line of Fiedich ile's Gamphe Fmypewte saes wih iliay biskness deeine ou siuaionxxxix . They ceainly deeine ou appeciaion of he The edia of

he pesen inuence how we hink abou he edia of he pas o foha ae hose of he fuue. Wihou phonogaphy and is new abiliyo faihfully anipulae he spoken wod in ways ha no longe equieha speech be anslaed ino wiing hee would be no acadeic ene-pises aied a undesanding he counicaive household of culueswih few o no sybolbased exenal soage capaciies. Ou ebono o use Wale Ong's beeknown phase seconday oaliy eoacively ceaed he bygone wodofouh wold ha was no ye a he

ecy of he quie hand and he eecive eye No supisingly anyedia hisoies adhee o a ipaie sucue ha uses hese wo oaliieso backe an inei peiod known as he Guenbeg Galaxy o heAge of Pin Such faing howeve iplies ha he ediscovey of apas oaliy will affec he pecepion of ou pesen lieacy sice eveyexploaion of he dynaics of oaliy is a enegoiaion of he liis andboundaies of lieacy and is associaed edia newoks Why hen sepaae he quanu leap in he eseach ino oaliy fo he eegence ofhe oe copehensive aenion owad edialiy in geneal? We needonly add o Havelock's lis a couple of equally divegen and inuenialconepoay ilesos poinenly And LeoiGouhan's Geste etPae and McLuhan's Udestadg Meda o ealize ha he waeshed Havelock had in ind concened oe han ques


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raslators ' Itroductio Xlions of oaliy vesus lieacy. A widespead inees cuing acoss al dis-ciplinay boundaies saed o focus on he aeiaiies of counicaion. A a ie when he e edia eihe was sill issing fo anydicionaies o conued up visions of spiiuais, nueous scholas

wee aeping o bing ino focus he aeial and echnological aspecsof counicaion and o assess he psychogeneic and sociogeneic ipac of changing edia ecologies. Such aeps se heselves he asksof esablishing cieia fo he exainaion of soage and counicaionechnoogies, pondeing he eaionships aong edia, pobing hei social, culual, and poiica oles, and, if possible, poviding guidelines fofuue use

Of couse hee wee pedecessos, and soe ae sill being quoed.Of he any leaned clichs ciculaing in he widening gye of ediasudies, he os pesisen ay be he assuance ha al he nasy hingswe can say abou copues wee aeady spelled ou in Plao's ciique ofwiing in haedrus. In his cenuy, Wae Benains faous essayThe Wok of A in he Age of Mechanical Repoducion was s pub-lished in , and Haod Inniss Empire ad Commuicatios and Biasof Commuicatio, he s aeps o conugae wold hisoy accod

ing o he wokings of diffeen edia echnologies, appeaed in 0 and , especively. The lis of woks published befoe 0 could be ex-panded, especiay if one wee o include he any singleediu heoissand coenaossuch as Mnsebeg, Anhei, Bazs, and acaueon l, o Bech and Lazasfeld on adioas we as he gowh ofNoh Aeican counicaion sudies, bu edia heoy as we know ioday s eeged in he 0s.

Much of his wok ends o go by geneic naes such as edia he

oy o edia sudies. Such es ae so hospiable as o be idiculous,as if he cobined ades, skills, and discipines of pape poducion, boobinding, bibiogaphy, exua ciicis, ieay analysis, and he econoics of pubishing wee o be labeed pape heoy Bu hei vaguenesseflecs a genuine divesiy of possible appoaches, fo a he end of hewenieh cenuy he sudy of edia is oughly whee he sudy of lieaue was a is beginning. When Bois Eichenbau, one of he poponensof Russian foalis, ied o defend he foal ehod agains he

gowing encoachen of saesponsoed Socialis Realis, he quoedhe ipaien coens of his felow ciic Roan akobson o undeinehe speciciy and appopiaeness of hei new appoach

Te bjet te siene liteatue is nt liteatue, but liteainesstat is,tat wi makes a gien wk a wk liteatue Until nw liteay istians


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XV raslators' Itroductioae peeed t at like te plieman w intending t aest a etain pesn,wuld, at any pptunity, seize any and all pesns w aned int te apatment, as well as tse w passed alng te steet. Te liteay istian usedeeytingantplgy, psylgy, plitis, pilspy. Instead a siene

liteatue, tey eated a nglmeatin mespun disiplines Tey seemed ae gtte tat tei essays stayed int elated disiplines and tat teseuld igtly use liteay mastepiees nly as deetie, senday duments.

The sae ipaiece deies Fiedich ie's coe ha ediasciece Mediewisseschaft) wi eai ee edia hisoy as ogas he paciioes of ca sdies kow highe aheaics oyfo heasay.6 s as he foais sdy of ieae shod be hesdy of ieaiess, he sdy of edia shod coce isef piaiywih ediaiy ad o eso o he sa sspecshisoy, socioogy,phiosophy, ahopoogy, ad ieay ad ca sdieso expaihow ad why edia do wha hey do I is ecessay o ehik ediawih a ew ad copoisig degee of scieic igo, focsig o heiisic echoogica ogic, he chagig iks bewee body ad edi, he pocedes fo daa pocessig, ahe ha evaae he fohe poi of view of hei socia sage

This ceeig po edia is eiisce of he wok of MashaMcLha, ad, o spisigy, he gowig iees i he ediaeaedwok of ie, Vi Fsse, Pa Viiio, Ah oke, ad RgisDebay coicides wih McLhas esecio as a ciic of odeiywohy of beig eioed i he sae beah as Adoo, Foca, oHeidegge.7 Dig McLha's ifeie his especabiiy wod haveaazed ay a ciic, sice he appeaed o be secod o oe whe icae o akig ife easy fo his deacos his qesioabe poiics, his

casa ad a ies cyica disissa of socia isses, his deigh i hob-obbig wih he copoae ad poiica eie, o o eio he beezyshaowess of his wok foowig Uderstadig Media, a cospied oake hi ad his Sa Popoogica a wepaced pchig bag, es-peciay fo he eaed Lef. McLha's focs o echoogies, edia foas, ad aeiaiies of coicaio did o easiy wihi a i-eeca adscape shaped oe by qesios of edia oweship, adi-ece aipaio, ad saegies fo coicaive eacipaio.

The ieeca Lef's disissa of McLha was eqay poocedi Geay I a wekow edia essay of Has Mags Ezesbege eeced hi as a eacioay veioqis fo he apoiicaavagade, a chaaa igoa of socia pocesses whose cofsedbooks seve as a qay of digesed obsevaios fo he edia ids


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raslators' Itroductio xv

y"9 Buldng on Bech and Benan, Enzensbege aeped o ouae a socas saegy" o he eacpaoy use o eda Ancpang a hee o gea poance n Gramophoe Film ypewriter (al-hough spped o s pocal oveones n es book), he poned ou

ha n pncple, echnooges such as he ansso ado ecognze noconadcon beween anse and eceve Rahe, hese echncaldsncons elec he socal dvson o abo no poduces and consues and heeoe ae uaey pedcaed on he conadcon be-ween he ulng and uled classes I passve consues wee o becoeacve czens and poduces, hey woud have o ake chage o hs un-apped echnoogca poena, nsall heselves as poduces, andheeby bng he councaons eda, whch up o now have no deseved he nae, no he own"

Ths noon o lbeang eda no he own" povoked a voce-ous esponse o ean Baudllad, who n hs essay Reque o heMeda" chaged Enzensbege wh egugang he old Maxs deuson ha undeneah he capas venee o exchange value esdes aoe naual use value wang o be uncoveed I was eoneous o beeve, Baudad agued, ha eda ae neua echnoogca syses

whose soca pac depended upon who uses he o say wha; ahe, was n he o and vey opeaon" ha hey nduced socal eaonsIn ohe wods, eda ae no coeciets bu eectors o deology" 2

whch was Baudad's way o enoogcaly updang McLuhan'sana ha he edu s he essage. In sho, eda do no edae;hey ae anedaoy and nansve. The evoluonay" evens oMay '8, Baudlad claed, could no suvve he edaon becauseansgesson and subveson neve ge on he a' whou beng subly

negaed as hey ae; ansoed no odes, neuazed no sgns, heyae evsceaed o he eanng "

In hs aep o show ha eda desoy he aua o an even, Bau-dllad was, n essence, anseng sucuals and seoc expana-ons o he poducon and anenance o eanng and deology oexs and sgns o eda To h, wng n Fance n he ealy 0s, was clea ha deoogy" could no longe be consuced as an essence osoca neess o anpuave nens abcaed a a hdden cene and

hen channeed hough he eda us as ecen scholashp had analyzed deology and eanng as he esul o an neplay o sgns, a edaheoy nsped by sucuals and seocs saw he o be nheen nhe ways eda opeaed. The edu s he essage opeaes a ans-e o eanng ono he edu se qua echnoogcal sucue"4


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XV raslators troductioHoweve little they othewise ay have i coo, the wok of ittlead Baudillad is located o the sae itellectual taectoy Both ecoceptualize the edia issue i tes of ecet theoetical developetscooly gouped togethe as Fech theoy Supecially, ittles

wok ca be see as a ege of Foucault, Laca, ad McLuha, that is,a cobiatio of discouse aalysis, stuctualist psychoaalysis, adstgeeatio edia theoy To distiguish it fo the oe geeictes edia studies ad edia theoy, we will call it edia dis-couse aalysis ad peset it i the followig discussio as a distictlyGea offshoot of poststuctualis that ca oly be udestoodagaist the Gea eceptio i the 0 of the Fech tiuviate ofDeida, Foucault, ad Laca with Viilio to be added late).

L A C A N C A N A N D D E R R I D A DA HE RE NCH ACRO SS HE RH NE

Whe poststuctualist theoizig cossed the Rhie fo Face itoGeay i the late 0s, it was ot eceived with ope as. It is pe-haps usupisig that the hashest attacks agaist it wee diected ot atthe matre peseurs theselves but at thei Gea adepts Oe outspo

ke citic chastised the wok of the latte as Lacaca ad Deidada, a ucoditioal ad fequetly ucitical adaptatio to Fech theo-ies aflicted by a cogestio of liguistic expessiveess that aboveall desies oe thigot to be udestood 6 Oe o doubt ca dsiila setiets i eactio to Noth Aeica appopiatios of poststuctualis, but to udestad what ittle saysad why he choosesto say it with a cetai paacheit is ecessay to descibe biely whatdistiguishes the Gea eceptio of poststuctualis fo its Noth

Aeica coutepats7I Geay thee was o sigatue evet such as Deidas peseta-

tio of Stuctue, Sig, ad Play i the Discouse of the Hua Sciecesat ohs Hopkis, o Yale School, ad o decostuctio to speakof Thee was istead, i Robet Holub's wods, a coteie of scholasaog the ittle, the philosophe Nobet Bolz, ad the Geaistoche Hischwho had o spiitual fathe o itellectual cetead at soe poit becae itigued with Fech theoy. Wheeas iNoth Aeica theoy poted fo a fo of itellectual Reagaoics, atickledow effect by which the wok of eputable scholas at allegedlysupeio istitutios pecolated dowwad ad outwad, its Gea e-ceptio teded to stat at the acadeic agiswith studets, uiofaculty, eadig goups, sall publishig housesad the gadually, ad


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raslators Itroductio XVlagains noable esisance move inwad and pwad. To a lage exen e-sisance came om he Le since wha Deida Lacan Focau andhei disciples had o say seemed a s incompaibe wih posiions inspied by Max o he Fank School (nlike oday whee so much e-

seach goes ino showing how ikeminded hey ae) A imes he suggeha ensued was moivaed less by heoy han by powe. As had aleadyhappened in Fance in he wake o he evens o 8, he esabished Lewas in dange o losing gond wih one o is mos impoan consien-cies I scualis and posscuais ciicism o Max and his pogeny pevailed hen disenchaned sudens aiss and inelecas mighno longe be a he moeoess excusive disposal o he Le Who o

exampe coud ake Hebe Macses sangine FeudianMaxis bewseiousy ae eading Lacan? 9 Faced wih his chalenge he Le whichisel had aced si opposiion duing is gh o ecogniion was qicko eso o he ubiquios Irratioalismusorwurf is i accusedFenchinspied heoizing o downplaying hisoy eadicaing he subecand conuing up impesonal deeminis symboic chains and newokso iaionaism Given Naional Socialisms mobiizaion and expoiaiono he song aniaional adiion in Geman hough his epoach ca

ies consideable weigh in Gemany ie has acknowledged he chal-lenge in a ecen ineview he descibed his magnm ops Discourse Networks, as wien in black in evey sense " This phase no ony eeso he books ypogaphical appeaance o o he ac ha i was wienin and o he black academic make (ha is ouside esablished schoolsand ends) bu aso alldes o he Geman poliical colo coding ha as-sociaes black wih consevaism

No ha he Righ and Cene wee any moe welcoming despie he

ac ha sevea o he Geman possucuaiss who lae ose o pominence began hei caees unde he ueage o welknown adiiona li-eay scholas (ile o insance saed as an assisan o Gehadaise one o he moe pominen epesenaives o he hemeneuic a-diion) Once again conic was pobably navoidabe and once againi ook on a ceain edge because he opposing paies despie heiwidely dieing appoaches and eminoogies wee no ha a emovedom one anohe and wee eqeny concened wih idenica isues.Geman ciics o Deida especialy hose seeped in he hemeneic adiion have epeaedly claimed ha he is no paiclay oiginal i eadcosely His indebedness o Heidegge is well known and ye an assmpion pesiss expoed in gea deail in Maned Fanks sdy What IsNeostructuralism? qesions egading he mediaion o eeence


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XVlll raslators Itroductioand sbeciviy by and hogh langage wee aleady addessed and aeas paly solved n he wngs o Scheieache and seveal pos-anian Gean idealis and Roanic phiosophes.22 In sho whawas good abo Fench posscals was no new and wha wasnew was no good.

The posscaiss esponded wih a heeold appoach Fsleaving aside he ppoed neioiy o Fench phiosophes o 080o hei Gean conepas o 080, hey aged ha he veyac ha Fench posscalis was posng he sae qesions anddeaing wh eaed isses ged o s inceased ecepion ahe han isdisissal Second insead o neaizing he Fench posscalss by

eeng he back o hei Gean anecedens hey poposed ha helae be adicalzed by ocsng on hose insances whee hey anicipaedo cae cose o he soons p owad by Fench heoiss This saegy was adoped o exape by Hisch who pays o he bashyong (as wee pooFench aniheenec Scheieache againshe eldey cypoheenecal Schleieache so dea o he esabishedGean adion.2 I also helps o explain why snce he pblca-ion o he coecion Urszee, Gean posscalis has been so

dawn o dcl exs and wies o ha ea2 I Hdein es oeven he ong noves o Goehe ae seen as nsped by paying wh andaking apa he pooFench aesheic and phiosophic axios o heiday hen discose analysis Lacanan heoizing and Deidean decon-scon becoe he oe appopiae oos o dealing wh he.25

The hd and os saighowad appoach consised n nongadiona heenec scholas ha hey wee nable o ace he e di-ensions o he Fench heoy oengs an obecon ha soeies

ook he shape o geelly o deanly conng he wos sspcionso wha posscais is p o In hs ciqe o What Is Neostructurlism? ile honed in on Fanks eal asspion ha Fench he-oss wee poong he dea o a sbecess achne 26 DiscssingLacans aos accon o han conscosness as a caea ha cap-es and soes iages even when nobody is aond 2 Fank had agedha Lacan in he na analyss cold no do who soe kind o sb-ec endowed wh seelecive consciosness. No so le espondedhis echancal Polaoid conscosness was al Lacan had n ind be-case hs echnologcal aeias s ike Feds, easoned ony asa as he noaion achines o his eano oe and no less 2 Byephasizing Lacans eqen eeences o cicis and eedback (no oenion Lacans esal o discss he sbec o langage wh anybody


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raslators' Itroductio XXno vesed in cybenecs) e oved Lacan o of he heenecally soiled eas of oldsye psycoanalyss philosophy and ieayschoaship and ino he fa oe appopiae posheeneic doain ofinfoaion heoy Nowadays ile noed disappovngly even news-

papes eggiae Lacans faos dic ha he nconscios is he dis-cose of he ohe b ha his discose of he ohe is he discoseof he cici s ced by no one 29

To assocae Fench posscals wih oden edia echnologyhas becoe a coonpace n cen Noh Aecan eay heoyGeoge Landows Hypertet, wih s pogaac sbile he Coergece of Cotemporary Critical heory ad echology, asses ha

hypeex pesens an alos ebaassngly lieal ebodien ofDedas ephasis on deceneing and Bahess concepion of he ea-ey vess he wiey ex Gegoy Ule cais ha he gaao-logical woks of Deida aeady eflec an inenalizaion of he elec-oic edia hs aking wha s eay a sake in he debae sonding Wesen eaphyscs Egene Povenz and Mak Pose inn ink Focals analysis of svelance echniqes o daabases andeleconic conol pocedes2 I now appeas ha hese inks anaogies

and coespondences also can be poeced back in ie Wha hypeexand hypeedia ae o posscalis cybenecs was o sca-is and seoics and in boh insances he han iplicaon has beenpofond

Witut assing tug linguistis at all Nbet Wiene (inent ybenetis ad aleady as ealy as 948 dened man witut eeene t inteiity as ammuniatin maine a maine exanging inmatin wit is eninment Te idea tat all eality must be bken u n te nal analysis int a st elatins between elements ame tgete by an entiely dieent angle wit testutual stulate imuting eey eet meaning t a mbinatin minimal units etinent taits a deteminate de. Wile eslutely awae itFen semilgy was metaizing and ultualizing te Ameian meanistaadigm.

In a chape ened ScesDiscosesMedia in his bookhilosophie ach ihrem Ede Phiosophy afe is end) Bolz descibes

he clea paadg seqence ha has ed Fench heoy podcionsince Sasse Fs Sasses insigh ha he eanng of sgns s an ef-fec of diffeena aclaion eappeas in LviSass o descibe hehan ind as a se of aices fo he eegence of sces whieLacan cobinng sca lingiscs wh cybeneic heoy ans


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xx raslators' troductio

forms structura psychoanaysis into a meia theory of the ncon-scios"34 In the secon stage, Focault buils on this link to escribe thereays an circits of iscursive practices Finaly, Pal Viriios romo-logical" an chronopolitica" analyseswhich wil be of great impor

tance to the Fim" section of Gramophoe Film ypewriter themutation of human perception to changes in military meia technologyStep I We recognize that we are spoken by langage Step We uner-stan that anguage is not some nebos entity bt appears in the shapeof historicaly imite iscursive practices Step We naly perceive thatthese practices epen on meia In short, strctraism begot iscorseanaysis, an iscourse analysis begot meia theory

Meia, then, are at) the en of theory because in practice they werealreay there to begin with Accoringy, Kitter ties the emergence ofstructraism to the introuction of the typewriter, an he criticizes Foucat for neither reecting on the meiality of the iscrsive practices heanalyze nor going beyon the connes of the Gtenberg Gaaxy Ths,whereas Focalts archives are base on the hegemony of written lan-guage, on the silent assumption that print is the primary if not the only)carrier of signication, Kittlers archeology of the present seeks to inclue

the technoogica storage an communication meia of the postprintages) Even writing itself, before it ens p in ibraries, is a commni-cation meim, the technology of which the archeologist [Foucalt sim-ply forgot It is for this reason that al his anayses en immeiately before that point in time at which other meia penetrate the librarysstacks Discorse anaysis cannot be appie to soun archives an tow-ers of lm rols" )

Meia are the alpha an omega of theory If meia o inee eter-

mine or situation," then they no oubt aso etermine, an hence congre, our intelectual operations One col easily reappropriate Derrias mucheferre pronouncement il 'y a pas de horstete an sug-gest that the funamenta premise of meia iscorse anaysis is il 'y apas de horsmedia

D S C O U R S E N E T W O R K S F R O M M O H E R O N G U E S O

M A E R S O N S C R P O N

Kittler's intellectal career can be broken own into three parts, eachroughly covering one ecae In the 0s, his focs was on iscourseanalysis; in the 80s, he trne his attention to the technologizing of is-corse by eectric meia; an in the 0, to its subsequent igitization


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raslators ' Itrodutio XX

Beginning as a riatdozet in Freibrg he ealt with the socalle Ageof Goethe 080) in most of his early work concentrating oncanonical athors like Lessing Schiller an Goethe himself The inlenceof Focalt an Lacan is obvioshis highly emaning reaing of

E T A Hoffmanns The Sanman" ranks as the most compresse anprogrammatic of all applications of Lacan"5as is the attempt to fsethe two One of his principal goals is to relate Lacanian notions of sbject e)formation specically within the framework of the nclear fam-ily that emerge in the secon half of the eighteenth centry to the iscrsive practices that came to reglate the new roles an relationships ofmothers fathers an chilren on the one han an athorities an sbjects on the other Looking back at this early work Kittler emphasizethat the nclear family between the ages of the Enlightenment an Ro-manticism was not a fact of social history" bt a coe" a veritableiscorse machine" that proce all the secrets an intimacies that weresbseqently mistaken as essential components of an eqally essential hman natre Hence texts sch as Lessings family ramas or Goethes Bildugsromae have to be rea as instances of a cltral inscription program: German literatre aron 800 so often haile as the apex of Ger

manic cltral otpt clminating in the twin peaks of Goethe anSchiller becomes a means of programming people part of the overall re-coing enterprise that shere in an age that saw not only the sprea ofthe nclear family bt also the growth of literacy the notion of athorship as the expression of ineffable iniviality an Ierlihkeit, an thepreinstrial mobilization of the moern nation state on all ieoloicalaministrative an military levels The ofcial locs of proctio forGerman Poetry was the nclear family scholars saw to its mltiplication;

an a science that claime the title Science provie its jstication "7The 80s ring which Kittler move from Freibrg to Bochm)

broght a consierable broaening of his interests an increasing foraysinto nonGerman an nonGermanist areas Always a prolic scholar heproce essays on among others) Nietzsche Pink Floy Peter HankeDashiell Hammett Bram Stoker Richar Wagner an Thomas Pynchon More importantly meia"a wor rarely se in the previosecaemae a gran entry an with goo reason If literatre is pro-gramming how exactly oes it procee? Obviosly it involves the proction circlation an consmption of texts Interpreting those textsthat is isolating an forcing them to reveal something beyon the mate-rialities an orers of commnication that proce them in the rstplace will be of little help Instea iscorse analysis begins by simply


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registering them as materia communicative events in historicaly contin-gent interiscursive networks that link writers archivists aresses aninterpreters9 In so oing iscourse analysis oes not eny interpreta-tion; it merey concentrates on something more interesting First of a itfocuses on the brute fact that certain texts were proucerather thannot an rather than others Secon it shows that these texts regarlessof the variegate socia practices to which they may be relate exhibitcertain reguarities that point to specic rues programming what peoplecan say an write

Thir an perhaps most surprising iscourse analysis highlights thefact that given the growing socia compexity an expaning commu-

nicative networks of the early 800s stanarize interpretation appearsto have been possible an inee was ever more esirabe The herme-neutic master pan seems to have been to offset increasing socia com-plexity with interpretative homogenization This pan can only workhowever if people are traine to work with anguage in stanarizeways that ownpay its changing materiaity For instanceto chooseone example of importance to Kitterpeople have to be traine to reathe smooth an continuous ow of ink on paper as the manifestation of

an equaly smooth an continuous ow of personaity In Hegel's worsthe essence of iniviuality has its appearance an externality" in han-writing But people also have to be traine to isregar the change fromhanwriting to print4 This point then is crucia beginning in the Ageof Goethenot coincientay one of the formative perios of Germanhistorystable cutural references such as authorship originaity inivi-uality an Geist, a accessibe by way of stanarize interpretation practices cut through an homogenize increasing socia complexity thiscoul only occur however because a naturaize anguage now seen as aluci carrier of meaning cut through an homogenize the ifferent me-ia In short peope were programme to operate upon meia in waysthat enable them to elie the materiaities of communication But if thereis any truth to what meia theory folowing Innis Ong an McLuhanhas been claiming for ecaes meia have their own biases" an mes-sages" that must be taken into account The question of how people op

erate upon meia thus has to be complemente by the equaly importantquestion of how meia operate upon peope Subsequenty iscourseanaysis has to e expane as we as suppemente by meia theoryScholars such as Kittler Bolz an Hrisch as it were playe Marx toFoucaults Hege: they pulle iscourse anaysis off its textual an iscur-sive hea an set it on its meiatechnological feet


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shots of a cltures aminstraton of power an knowlege Not unlikethe approach taken in Jonathan Golbergs acclame stuy Writig Matter, the aim s to combne a Focalan" analysis of historcally contingent rles an reglatons which allow or force people to speak in cer-tan ways with the examinaton of equally contngent physcal an men-tal trainng programs an the analysis of the contemporary meiatechnologies that lnk the two

Although Kittler leaves his Repblc of Scholars largely unevel-ope the scrsive el of 00the pero known as German Clas-sicism Romantcsm or the Age of Goethes escribe in terms of thespirtalize oralzation of language Kittler argues that the process of al-

phabetizaton came to be assocate wth the Mother as an emboimentof Naturemore specically with the Mothers moth" now reconceptualize as an erotic orice linking soun letter an meaning into aprimary linguistic unit charge with pleasre German chilren learne torea throgh both the physical an sexal mmeacy of an proximity tothe Muttermud which in German signies both the lteral moth of themother as well as the opening of the uterus) By associating erotic plea-sure with the act of composition an rereang an with Mother Natre

more generally wrters of the Classical an Romantc perios unerstoolangage as a form of originary oralty a transcenental inner voce su-perior an anterior to any form of written langage In the same wayWoman was constructe as the primoral ste of lingistc orign an in-spiration which rge male wrters such as Goethe both to serve as statebreaucrats an to prouce texts for a preomnantly female aienceAn promnent eucators aresse mothers as the primary targets ofchlrens socializaton into language nitiating peagogcal reforms that

centere on the pronnciationbase acquisiton of reaing an wrtingOriginary oralty n that sense was the effect of a feeback loop involv-ing iactic techniques meia reform an a peculiar surcharge of thematernal mago

The iscourse network of 00 epene pon writing as the solelinear channel for processng an storing information For sghts sonsan other ata outse the tratonal purview of language to be re

core they ha to be sqeeze through the symbolic bottleneck of letters an to be processe in meaningful ways they ha to rely on the eyesan ears of hermeneutically contione reaers Reaing n that sensewas an exercise in scrptographically or typographically ince verbalhallucinations whereby lingustic signs were commte into souns animages With the avent of phonography an lm however souns an


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lngustc communcaton an nstea emphasze textualty as suchturnng wors from means to ensnthemselves "4 Funamentally thesewors were nothng ut marks aganst a ackgroun that allowe mean-

ng to occur on the ass of fference What the typewrter ha nsttute namely the nscrpton of stanarze) lack letters on whte paper was replcate n the processng moes of oth the gramophone anlm The gramophone recore on a cylner covere wth wax or tnfolan eventually on a graphte sk whereas lm recore on cellulo; utoth recore nscrmnately what was wthn the range of mcrophonesor camera lenses an oth therey shfte the ounares that stn-gushe nose from meanngful souns ranom vsual ata from mean

ngful pcture sequences unconscous an unntentonal nscrptons fromther conscous an ntentonal counterparts Ths alternaton etweenforegroun an ackgroun an the corresponng oscllaton etweensense an nonsense on a ass of meal otherness a logc of pure ffer-entaltywhch on a theoretcal level was to emerge n the shape ofSaussure's structural lngustcstypes the scourse network of The transcenental sgne of Classcal an Romantc poets has cee tothe materal sgner of moernsm

Bewudert iel ud iel gescholte much amre an much a-monshe) Helens amc selfagnoss n the secon part of GoethesFaust comes to mn when assessng the recepton of Discourse Networks. To some t s more than a ook of genus an nsprng reath;t s a watershe eyon whch the stuy of lterature an culture mustfollow a fferent course In a scusson of Netzsche the mechanzephlosopher who more than any other herale the posthermeneutc ageof the new mea Kttler quotes the poetoctor Gottfre Benn: Netz-sche le us out of the eucate an erute the scentc the famlar angoonature that n so many ways stngushe German lterature nthe nneteenth century" Almost exactly one hunre years later Kttlerswork appears to some partcularly among the younger generaton aswhat s leang us out of the smlarly stagnant pools of eruton an famlarty that have come to stngush German an not only German lterary scholarshp To others t s a sloppy mosac that runs roughsho

over more nuance contextualze an acaemcally acceptale researchunertaken n cultural stues lterary hstory an the hstory of scencenot to menton femnsm Crtcs mght nstea e tempte to apply thesecon half of Benns statement not quote y Kttler) to Kttlers role ncontemporary scholarshp Netzsche le us nto ntellectual rene-ment nto formulaton for the sake of expresson; he ntrouce a con


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raslators Itroductio XXVl

ception of artistry into Gerany that he ha taken over fro France "An nally, there is a thir reaction, one Heen coul not copain of thebook is uch ignore This is, no oubt, partly ue to the ifcuties in-volve; to an auience outsie of Geran stuies, the exclusively Geranfocus of the rst part, escribing the iscourse network of 800, posesconsierabe probes Gramophoe Film ypewriter, however, is farore accessibe by virtue of its focus on the Mediegrderzeitcoinage erive fro the historiographical ter Grderzeit, which e-notes the rst ecaes of the Secon Geran Epir foune in 8,an which Kitter reappropriates to refer to the founing age" of newtechnoogical eia pioneere by Eison an others uring the sae tie

perio

MARSALL MCNIETZSCE TE ADVENT OF TE

EECTRIC TRINIT

At rst gance, Gramophoe Film ypewriter appears to be a engthy aenu to the secon part of Discourse Networks 00") , proviingfurther an ore etaie accounts of the ruptures brought about by the

ifferentiation of eia an counication technologies The bookcou be unerstoo as a relay station that eiatesKittler uses theore technical ter erschalte to wire)various forgotten or itteknown texts on the new eectric eia an the conition of print in theage of its technological obsoescence Kittler reprints, in their entirety,Rilkes essay Prial Soun," the vignettes Goethe Speaks into thePhonograph" an Fata Morgana Machine" by Saloo Frielaeneraka Mynona), Heieggers eitation on the typewriter, an CarlSchitts quasiphilosophica essay The Buribunks, " aong others, pass-ing fro one to another through his own textua passages In that sense,Gramophoe Film ypewriter is engineere to function as a kin of intertextual archive, rescuing unrea texts fro obivion Because thesetexts were written between the 80 an the 0s, that is, in the ie-iate presence of a changing eia ecology, they registere with particu-ar acuity the cultura effects of the new recoring technologies, incluing

the erosion of print's forer onopoly Print reects, within the iits ofits own eiu, on its own arginalizationThe overall arrangeent is sipe As the title inicates, the book

coprises three parts, each eicate to one of the new inforationchannels What istinguishes the postGutenberg ethos of ata processing fro the ol aphabetic storage an transission onopoy is the


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XXVll raslators' Itroductio

fact that they no longer rely on symbolic mediatio but instea recor inthe shape of light an soun waves visual an acoustic effects of the realGramophone aresses the impact an implications of phonographyFilm" concentrates on early cinematography an Typewriter" a-resses the new technologically implemente materiality of writing thatno longer lens itself to metaphysical soul builing For those more intereste in theoretical issues an technological extensions of poststructuralism in particular it will be important to keep in min that Kittler re-lates phonography cinematography an typing to Lacans axiomatic reg-isters of the real the imaginary an the symbolic In brief writing in apostprint environment is associate with the symbolic with linguistic

signs that have been reuce to their bare materiality an technicity"an comprise a finite set without taking into account philosophicalreams of infinity" ( ) The imaginary by contrast is linke with thetechnology of lm because the sequential processing of single frames intoa projecte continuity an wholeness correspons to Lacans mirrorstagethat is the chils experience of its imperfect boy (in terms ofmotor control an igestive function) as a perfect refection an imaginean imagistic composition in the mirror The real is in turn ientie with

phonography which regarless of meaning or intent recors all thevoices an utterances prouce by boies thus separating the signifyingfunction of wors (the omain of the imaginary in the iscourse networkof 800) as well as their materiality (the graphic traces corresponing tothe symbolic) from unseeable an unwritable noises The real forms thewaste or resiue that neither the mirror of the imaginary nor the gri ofthe symbolic can catch: the physiological accients an stochastic isor-er of boies" ( ) Hence the istinctions of Lacanian psychoanalysiswhat Bolz calls a meia theory of the unconscious" appear as the theory or historical effect" of the possibilities of information processingexistent since the beginning of this century49

Reaers will n much that is familiar from Discourse Networks:Kittler continues to pay sustaine attention to the coincience of psychoanalysis an Eisonian technology an inclues a suggestive iscussion ofpsychoanalytic case stuies in spite of their written format as meia

technologies" (8) since they ahere to the new technological meialogic positing that consciousness an memory are mutually exclusive Hefurther evelops the contraictory an complicate relays between generan meia technology incluing a register" of this centurys literaryesk couples" ()couples who accoring to Kittler have exchangelovemaking for text processing An once again Kittler questions a mot


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raslaors Iroduio XXX

ley crew of frenly an nfrenly wtnessesamong them etzscheFre Kafka Rlke Ernst Jnger Roger Waters an Wllam Br-roghsto ascertan what exactly happene when the ntmate anstately that s ncreasngly qant an cmbersome) processng technol

ogy calle wrtng was challenge checke moe an emote bynew storage an commncaton technologes etzsche n partclartakes on a key role as the rst phlosopher to se a typewrter an ths asthe rst thnker to flly recognze that theoretcal an phlosophcal speclatons are the effects of the commerce between boes an mea tech-nologes etzsche ha ths recognton n mn Kttler sggests whenhe observe n one of hs few type letters that Or wrtng tools are alsoworkng on or thoghts" User Shreibzeug arbeie mi a usereGedake). When the progressvely myopc retre phlologst began sng a typewrtera Dansh wrtng ball by Mallng Hansen that notallow hm to see the letter mprnte at the moment of nscrptonhe notonly antcpate riure auomaiue bt also began to change hs way ofwrtng an thnkng from sstane argment an prolonge reecton toaphorsms pns an telegram style" After abanonng hs malfnctonng machne etzsche elevate the typewrter tself to the stats of

a phlosophy" sggestng n O he Geealo of Morals that hmantyhas shfte away from ts nborn facltes sch as knowlege speech anvrtos acton) n favor of a memory machne Croche over hs mechancally efectve wrtng ball the physologcally efectve phlosopherrealzes that wrtng s no longer a natral extenson of hmans whobrng forth ther voce sol nvalty throgh ther hanwrtng Onthe contrary hmans change ther postonthey trn from theagency of wrtng to become an nscrpton srface"

etzscheor better ths technologcally nforme poststrctral-st reang of etzscheponts to an elementary trope governng Kt-tler's narratve Regarless of ts convctons or eologcal rectonpoststrctralsm clams to reveal many key concepts sch as the Sbject Athorshp Trth Presence socalle Man" an the Sol) to be akn of conceptal vapor or effect that arses from an procees to coverp nerlyng scrsve operatons an materaltes In posthermenetc scholarshp sch as Kttler's these effects are not so mch ene asbrackete throgh a shft of focs towar certan external pontsn par-tclar boes margns" power strctres an ncreasngly meatechnologesn the nterstces of whch those phantasms ha come tolfe n the rst place Ths both etzsche's an Kttler's ntellectal ca-reers consst n pshng the brackets together ntl everythng that ha


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raslators Itroductio XXXcation can harly be obivious to its own materiaities an historica situ-ateness, so it comes as no surprise that Gramophoe Film ypewriteritself carries the imprint of the meia of which it speaks The mosaiclikequalities of much of the text, for instance, the sometimes suen shifts

from one passage or paragraph to another an, alternately, the grauafaeouts from Kittler's own texts to those of his preecessors, erives, inboth theory an practice, from the jumpcutting an splicing techniquesfunamental to cinema But meia technologies coul also be invoke toexpain Kittler's iiosyncratic stylistics on the microleve of the inivi-ual sentence or paragraph Long stretches are characterize by a quaityof free associationnot to say, automatic writingthat once again coulbe labele cinematic, with one iea succeeing the other, strung togetherby a series of eitmotifs One such eitmotif is the aforementione ictumby Nietzsche, Our writing toos are aso working on our thoughts,"which Kittler quotes repeately, suggesting certain stylistic an intellectual afnities with his mechanize preecessor An who coul questiontheir simiarities? Nietzsche was the rst German professor of philoogyto use a typewriter; Kitter is the rst German professor of literature toteach computer programming) Certainy, Kittler's prose is somewhat

Nietzschean in that syntactic coherence frequenty yiels to apoicticapeus, sustaine argument to aphoristic impression, an reasone logicto sexy soun bites This enigmatic prose is further exacerbate by sty-istic peculiarities all Kitters own Most noticeable among these is thefrequent use of averbs or averbial constructions such as eifach, eifach ur, bekatlich, selbstreded, or ichts als variousy translate asmerely," simply," ony," as is known," an nothing but"), as in thisexplanation of the computerize recoring of phonemes The anaog sig-

nal is simply igitize, processe through a recursive ter, an its autocorreation coefcients calculate an eectronicaly store" ) Suchsentences cal them Kitter's Just So Stories) are, with casual hyperbole,meant to suggest the obvious, bits of common knowlege that on't require any elaboration, even though or precisely because) their ifcultsubjects woul urge the opposite Similarly, Kitter is fon of separatingconsecutive clauses in the German original, they ten to lea off withweswege) from their main clauses, as in this explanation of the physioogical bases of the typewriter: Blinness an eafness, precisely whenthey affect speech or writing, yiel what wou otherwise be beyon eachinformation on the human information machine Whereupon its repace-ment by mechanics can begin" 8) Despite their casua, ostensibly un-poishe, conversational qualities, these clauses almost aways refer to im


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l raslators Itroductio

portant points Which is why sentences ike this simpy eserve speciaattention

Not surprisingy Kitter's rhetorica bravao has rawn sharp criticism One critic attribute the paraox that Kitter conenty empoys

writing to ferret out superior an more avance meia technoogies tostyistic means consciousy use for the prouction of theoretica fantasyiterature"2 To Robert Houb the

ingle m diubing ac Kile e [i] e yle in wic i i wien. en agumen eem bcue and ivae One equenly a e imein a i au i wiing n cmmunicae bu amue imel Hi excni a aey leimi, un and cyic nuncemen, wic a

ime make acinaing eading, bu en eemble ee aciain amuc a i de eiu clai

As with McLuhan Kitter's prose carries a fashy exterity that makesmany caims seem invunerabe to substantive critique precisey becauseof their snappy an eegant phrasing To this itany one cou a Kitter'spenchant for maneuvering between engineering parance an meica jargon as we as his use of a whoe register of speciaize terminoogiesthat in Houb's estimation suggest a sembance of profunity"4 but onot utimatey contribute to a sustaine argument To top it off a grow-ing number of younger schoars have moee their writing on Kittersvery persona stye: to the eight of connoisseurs of German acaemeseKittlerdeutsch is areay as istinct an iiom as the equay unmistakabeAdorodeutsch

Rather than take Kitter to task for his virtuoso pay on the keyboarof poststructuraist rhetoric we wou urge consieration of his writing

stye in the arger context of the traition he writes inan more im-portant against Ceary he cutivates a coo ippant an payfu styeto subvert the acaemic uctus of German university prose a tongueincheek rhetoric to thumb his nose at the acaemic estabishment If styeas Derria remins us not coincientay in his anaysis of Nietzsche'swriting) is aways the question of a pointe object sometimes ony apen but just as we a styet or even a agger" then Kitter is certainytwisting his own styus into the boy of German inteectua iscourse

which has kept aive for far too ong what he fees to be the obsoetehermeneutic traition To counteract the wiesprea use of stiff anugubrious acaemic prose he inuges in styistic ouissace, a spiritepayfuness meant to assaut an shock conventiona schoary sensibii-ties An inee what better way is there to ebunk highfautin theories


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raslators' Itroductio XXXl

than a wry recourse to the materialities of comunication?56 No ess thanthe philosopher with a hammer of a century ago, who smashed notionsof selfhood and forged a style of his own by hammering on the keys of hiswriting ba, Kitter plays the efat terrible of the German humanities

who pummels literarycritica traditions with a rhetorica freestyle al hisown Indeed, to paraphrase Nietzsche, the inscription technologies of thepresent have contributed to Kitter's thinking

ON L CO NNE CT TEO R N TE AGE O I NTEL L GEN MACIN ES

But Friedrich Nietzsche is not the real hero of Gramophoe Film ypewriter. That part goes to Thomas Alva Edison, a casting decision that Kitt-ler beieves wil appeal to a North American audience: Edison is animportant gure for American cuture, ike Goethe for German cultureBut between Goethe and myself there is Edison" Indeed, Kitter creditshis soourns in Caiforniain particular, the requirement that he furnishStanford undergraduates with updated, shorthand summaries of Germanhistorywith proviing the impetus to focus on technological issuesMuch could be said about the history behind this alleged dichotomy be-

tween the United States and Germany, or of the implied distinction between technology and cuture, but there can be no doubt that NorthAmerican readers wil nd much of interest in Gramophoe Film ypewriter. They wil , however, aso nd cause for irritation beyond the ques-tion of style In concusion, we will briefy point to ve particuarly promising or probematic issues for the North American reception of Kitter

Back to the eds of Ma. After years of antihumanist" rhetoric,

a lul appears to be setting in A spirit of compromise is afoot in the humanities, and subects" are being readmitted into scholarly discourse,provided they behave themselves and do not suffer any sefaggrandizingCartesian or Kantian relapse In the face of such imminent harmony,Kittlers rhetoric may seem like a throwback to the heady days of miitant antihumanism His work no doubt invites the potting of a historicalgraph in which the human being is reduced from its original function ashomo faber to an accessory in a scenario of technological apocalypse, in

which the omnipotence of integrated circuits" will ead to a netuningof the selfreplicating Turing machine that relegates human ingenuityand idealism to the junkyard of history Impicit in much of Gramophoe Film ypewriter is the beief that socalled Man" der sogeate Mesch mocking phrase repeated ike a mantra throughout


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XXXV raslators' Itroductio

the book) is abot to isaear as a cognitive an sefetermining agentif sch an agent ever existe) an be sbsme by the march of techno-logical atosohistication We are face with the Aufhebug of hmanrocesses into silicon microrocessors, the issoltion of han soft

ware into comter harware, for if comter technologies beginningwith the eariest storage facilities, limatey sbstitte for hysiologicalimairments an exten the sensory aarats, then technologys ros-thetic fnction col alow for the comlete reacement of the hanHeieggers notion of technoogy as Gestell a sortive framing of hman being, trns ot to be an entire Ersatz for hman being Frthermore, it is not only a qestion of socae Man isaearing ow; Hewas never there to begin with, excet as a figent of cltra imagina

tion base on meiasecific historical nerinnings To aroriateMax Webers famos term, Kitters work contribtes in raical fashionto the ongoing roess of Etzauberug, or isenchantment

As we have areay inicate, some of Kitters rhetoric of paterlhumaiste bourgeois mst be seen against the backgron of secicalyGerman oststrctralist ebates, bt we wo nonetheess invite rea-ers to consier the ossibiity that Kittler, esecialy when viewe in con-

jnction with North American iscssions of sbject formation nereectronic conitions, is highighting a crcial oint: that the qestion ofthe sbject has not been answere yet, for as long as we are not aressing it in its meiatechnological context, we are not even abe to come with the right qestion

he stop ad go of history. Not srrisingy, Kitter has beencharge with a cavalier attite towar the vicissites of historical

change Instea of tracing an assigning vale to the agencies an contin-gencies that exlain the nfoing transformation from one historicalmoment to another, his broa tyologies ten to obscre those sbter-ranean istrbances that can bil into a araigm shift5 His escritive an nonevotionary moe favoring sen rtres an transformations at the exense of genetic casalities is erive from Focalt, btit takes on a certain ege becase eistemoogical breaks are tie to tech-nological rtres The emhasis on iscontinity, however, is less rob-

ematic than the obvios technological eterminism As imothy Lenoirhas note, Kittler exicity rejects any characterization of his work asnew historicism or socioogy of literatre, oting instea to escribehis roect in terms that freqenty invoke McLhans eterministic me-ia theories 59


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Cerainly Kiler's ephass on echnologcal breakhroghs o heexclusion of oher casave facors is indicaive of a soeies facile neglec of he dynac coplexiies of developen and evolionechnologcal or oherwise B here are poran excepions os noably

his ngenous descripion of he discourse nework of 8 as he conf-ence of social pracices such as he role of speakng ohers in he socializaon of children he pblicly andaed ehodologies of language acqsiion he raining of cvil servans and he beginnng of hereneclierary crics aong ohers The eda envronen of 8 herefore parcularly in he fors of wrng and inerpreaion s clearly seenas a hsorically specic coningency; is no as McLuhanies would havei par of he akeup of he Genberg Galaxy by defaul Media deer

ne or suaon bu i appears ha or suaon n rn can do sshare o deerine or edia In soe of his ore recen essays Kilerarges ha he discorse nework of 8 iself prepared he ground forhe echnological developens assocaed wih s sccessor Roanclierare as a virual edia echnology as i was suppored by he co-pliciy beween ahor reader and hero conribued self o he sbversion of he nchallenged onopoly of prn in Erope and o he change

of guards fro iagebased leraure o he ass edia of phoographyand l " Here Kiler appears o rerace he wellknown heoreicalfooseps of Waler Benjain who observed ha every hisorical erashows criical epochs in whch a ceran ar for aspires o effecs whichcold be fully obaned only wih a changed echnical sandard " 6 A herisk of oversplifying aers we cold say ha Kler espouses a ypeof echnoaerials ha albei only on a foral level bears soe reseblance o Marxiss hisorical and dialeccal aeralis O of he

dalecical exchange beween he ediaechnological base" and he discrsve supersrcure" arise conics and ensons ha sooner or laerresl in ransforaons a he level of edia A a given poin in ieha is dring he discourse nework of 8 a widely used sorage echnologyhe prined bookfors he aerial basis for new hereneucally prograed reading echnques ha enable readers o experiencean inner ovie"; subsequenly a desire arises in hese readers o invenor a leas ediaely selec he new cneaographic echnology ha

provides iages for real

Arms ad o Ma One eleen ha ay srike soe readers asdsrbng s Kiler's vral feshis of echnological innovaions prodced by iliary applicaions spinoffs ha owe heir exisence o il


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Tranlator Introuction XXXVll

Hail the conquering engineer. Kle's wok ends o cmpon specl clss of ecnologss mde o e foundng ge nd edgl ge of moden med posse: e engnee Edson MuydgeMey e Lume oes Tung nd von Neumnn ve ef end

woldo e ve mae woldn wc ecnoogy n moesenses n one egns supeme And one of e con counepsMynon's ngenous Pofesso Psco even mnges o e" Goeend ge e g n e so soy Goee Speks no e Ponogp"As we ve menoned Kle conss s Amecn" ude o epupoed ecnopo of Gemn cdemcs u my seve edeswell o pon ou Kle s spekng fom long Gemn don ofengnee wosp ecng s f ck s e second p of Goee's

Faut nd ncludng mmensely successfu scence con noves y Do-mnk nd Kelemnn e consucon of e engnee s lede no new wod n enneeen nd elywenecenuy ecnoccuops (ncudng Te von Hou's Metropoli nd ove ll epoeoss of e engnee e concluson of Oswd Spenge's Declineof the et In un Ke's somew qun poyl of e UnedSes s ven of ecnop so s esly ecogne Gemnoos: ks ck o e oseous Amecnsm" of e Wem Repuc sw Fods nd Tyloed Uned Ses s mode foovecomng e ckdness of e Od Wod

Reactionary potmoernim? Te Fodsm of e Wem Re-pulc ws eled o culu cuen ws o ve consdee n-fuence on consevve nd susequenly N deology Leled econy modensm" y Jeffey Hef ws n emp o ejec Eng-enmen vlues wle emcng ecnoogy n ode o econcle esong nmodens Gemn don w ecnologcl pogess Inspe of e unes nd dsoenon cused y e pd moden-on of e nneeencenuy Gemny e econy modenssclmed Gemny coud e both ecnoogcly dvnced an ueo s sou"6 One of econy modensm's key componens ws oseve e donlnd donlly unquesonednk eween so-cl nd ecnoogcl poess No onge ensned y e umns de-

oogy of e Enlgenmen e ecnologcl cevemens of e moden ge could e mde o ene muuly enec unon w pemod-en soce sucues Among e mos mpon nkes o conueo s dsncly Gemn econ o e vs of modenon weeOswld Spengle Cl Scm Ens Jnge Wene Som nd M


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XXXVll Tnlator' Introuction

tn Hedegge some of wom gue pomnently n te wtngs of Kttlend Bol To e sue wtng out te lkes of nge Benn nd He-degge s nytng ut synonymous wt endosng te extemst poltcldeologes tey my ve eld t one tme o note Neveteless ed

es of Gramophone Film Typewriter nd Kttles elted essys mgt eleft wt te mpesson tt n spte of ll dstncng mneuves Kttleseems to feel cetn eveence f not fo te wtes temselves tencetnly fo te lgely unquestonng dmton of med)tecno-logcl nnovtons Jngewo fetues pomnently n Flms cse n pont: te wy n wc te wokes nd soldes of s ely nov-els nd essys e dwfed y poductons nd wepons tecnologes ttdssolve te Innerlichkeit o nne expeence of eng nto spy of

med effects s dstnctly emnscent of Kttle's poststuctulst esueof te suject

Of couse tee s mo dffeence: Kttle s s f emoved s onecn e fom te tdtonl gtwng etoc of soul Volk" nd tentonl ody f tese o elted tems ppe tey do so only s ex-mples of te cude stocl conceptultons of te gowng connectvty nd communcton spces estlsed y moden med tecnolo

ges But te queston emns wete cetn fntes exst tt mgtsuggest tt some of Kttle's wok e leled postmoden vnt ofte old ectony modensmmost pomnently te detemnton toseve te connecton etween tecnologcl nd socl dvncement toettson te ltte n fvo of te fome nd nstll s t wee Tecnology s te new utentc suect of stoy Wt gves ts ppoc nddtonl edge oweve s te gowng weness of te degee to wcte Fenc poststuctulsts fom wom Kttle tkes s cue wee tem-

selves nluenced y tese gtwng Gemn tnkes69 Ntully He-degge comes to mnd ut one sould not undeestmte Jnge But f ts tue tt te ntumnsts of Fenc poststuctulsm owe lstng det to Netsce s well s to te Wem tnkes of te Rgt tenKttle's med dscouse nlyss wt ts nsstence tt med detemneou stuton nd tt ou stuton cnged decsvely dung te Meiengrnereit exposes te ntellectul ogns s well s tecnologclmtx tt sped tem


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PREFACE

a my ead and mike my bain

Stik at needle in my ein

H O S Y C H O

Med deemne ou suon wcn spe o ecuse of de-seves descpon.

Suon confeences wee eld y e Gemn Genel Sff geones ound noon nd smle ones n e evenng n fon of snd lesnd mps n w nd soclled pece. Unl D Gofed Benn wend seno my doco cged eue nd ey ccsm s wellw e sk of kng sock of e suon. Hs onle (n lee o fend) As you know I sgn On elf of e Cef of e Amy HgCommnd D Benn."

Indeed n I w e knowledge of les nd ecnooges enemyposons nd deploymen plns nd oced e cene of e AmyHg Commnd n Beln's Bendese my sl ve een possleo ke sock of e suon2

Te pesen suon s moe oscue. Fs e penen les ekep n cves wll ll emn clssed fo excly s mny yess ee emns dffeence eween les nd fcs eween plnned oecves nd e elon. Second even sece es suffe oss ofpowe wen el sems of d ypssng wng nd wes un oumeey o e unedle sees of numes cculng eween newokedcompues Tecnologes no only suve wng u enguf ndcy off ong w soced Mn ende e own descpon m-

possle. Incesngly d ows once conned o ooks nd e oecods nd ms e dsppeng no lck oles nd oxes s -cl nelgences e ddng us fewell on e wy o nmeless gcommnds In s suon we e lef only w emnscences s osy w soes. How wc s wen n no ook cme o pss my

XXXX


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xl Preface

sl e fo ooks o ecod Pused o e magns even osoee medaecome sensve enoug o egse e sgns and cues of a suaonTen as n e case of e seconal plane of wo opca meda paensand mo§s emege mys cons of scence oaces

Ts ook s a soy made up of suc soes I collecs commensupon and eays passages and exs a sow ow e novely of ecno-logca meda nsced self no e old pape of ooks Many of esepapes ae od o peaps even fogoen u n e foundng age of ecnologcal meda e eo of e novely was so ovewelmng a leaue egseed moe acuely an n oday's alleged meda pualsmn wc anyng goes povded does no dsu e assumpon of

goal domnance y Scon Valey An nfomaon ecnoogy wosemonopoly s now comng o an end oweve egses s vey nfoma-on: an aesecs of eo Wa wes asonsed y gamoponesms and ypewese s ecnoogcal medacommed o pape eween 8 80 and 0 amouns eefoe o a gosly mage of oupesen as fuue3 Tose ealy and seemngly amless macnes capaleof song and eefoe sepaang sounds sgs and wng useed na ecnoogng of nfomaon a n eospec paved e way fo o

day's selfecusve seam of numesOvously soes of s knd canno eplace a soy of ecnoogy

Even f ey wee counless ey would eman numeless and uswoud fal o capue e eal upon wc al nnovaons ae ased Con-vesey nume sees luepns and dagams neve un ack nowng only no macnes4 Hedegge sad as muc w s ne saemen a ecnoogy sef pevens any expeence of s essence How-eve Hedegge's exookke confuson of wng and expeence need

no e; n eu of plosopca nques no essence smpe knowedgewll do

We can povde e ecnoogcal and soca daa upon wc c-onal meda exs oo ae ased Only en wll e old and e newooks and e ecnologca successos ave as e nfomaon eyae Undesandng medadespe McLuan's leemans an mpos-sly pecsely ecause e domnan nfomaon ecnologes of eday cono al undesandng and s lusons Bu luepns and dagams egadess of wee ey conol pnng pesses o manfamecompues may yed socal aces of e unknown caled e odyWa emans of people s wa meda can soe and communcae Wacouns ae no e messages o e conen w wc ey equp so-called souls fo e duaon of a ecnoogca ea u ae (and n


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Preface xl

sc ccodnce w McLn e ccs, e ey scemsm ofpecepy

Wosoee s le o e o see e ccs n e synesed sondof CDs o n e lse soms of dsco nds ppness A ppness e

yond e ce, s Nesce wold e sd. A e momen of meclesssumsson o ws wose cses we e, e pnsm of mn s e ceoof med nses. And ecomes possle o ke sock of e son

In n e fned, yped mnues of e Amy Hg Commnd's nl confeences w ws ledy nmed e fe of l ngsn ey fee ppse of Hecs spwns mos ecnologcl nenons6 And snce wen oms Pyncon's Graity' Rainbowws pused, s ecome cle el ws e no fog fo peo-ple o felnds, u ke plce eween dffeen med nfomonecnologes d ows Pens nd mo�s of son s fogoen us .

Bu no me w wo e esec nd conuons of RondBmnn s ook woud no e een wen And woud e noe come ou wou Hed Beck Noe Bol Rdge Cmpe,

Ces Ge Anon (ony Kes, Wolf Ke osen Loen, JnnMlock Mcel Me Cemens Ponscegel Fedem Rong, Wolf-gng Scee Mnfed Scnede, Bend Sege Geog Csop(Soffe oen, Isolde ndleA Anje Wene, Dd E Weley,Rm Zons, nd Ag Gln

8


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GRAMOPHONE FLM TPERTER


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NTRODCTON

ptial ber network. People wll e hooked to n nfomton chnneltht cn e used fo ny medumfo the st tme n hstoy, o fo tsend Once moves nd musc, phone clls nd texts ech households voptcl e cles, the fomely dstnct med of televson, do, telephone, nd ml convege, stndded y tnsmsson fequences ndt fomt The optoelectonc chnnel n ptcul wll e mmune tdstunces tht mght ndome the petty t pttens ehnd the m-ges nd sounds Immune, tht s, to the om As s well known, nuclelsts send n electomgnetc pulse (EMP though the usul coppe cles, whch would nfect l connected computes

The Pentgon s engged n fsghted plnnng only the susttutonof optcl es fo metl cles cn ccommodte the enomous tesnd volumes of ts equed, spent, nd celeted y electonc wfeAll ely wnng systems, d nstlltons, mssle ses, nd mystffs n Euope, the opposte cost, nlly wll e connected to comput-es sfe fom EMP nd thus wll emn opetonl n wtme In thementme, plesue s poduced s ypoduct people e fee to chnnelsuf mong entetnment med Afte ll, e optcs tnsmt llmessges mgnle sve fo the one tht countsthe om

Befoe the end, somethng s comng to n end The genel dgtton of chnnels nd nfomton eses the dffeences mong ndvdul

med Sound nd mge, voce nd text e educed to sufce effects,known to consumes s ntefce Sense nd the senses tun nto eyewshThe medpoduced glmo wll suvve fo n ntem s ypoductof sttegc pogms Insde the computes themselves eveythng ecomes nume quntty wthout mge, sound, o voce And once optcl e netwoks tun fomely dstnct dt ows nto stndded


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2 Introuction

sees of dged numbes ny medum cn be nsled no ny oeW numbes eveyng goes Modulon nsfomon synco-non dely soge nsposon scmblng scnnng mppng ol med lnk on dgl bse wll ese e vey concep of medumInsed of wng people nd ecnologes bsolue knowledge wll uns n endless loop

Bu ee sll e med ee sll s enenmenody's sndd compses plly conneced med lnks e

sll compeensble n McLuns ems Accodng o m one medums conen s lwys oe med: lm nd do consue e con-

en of elevson ecods nd pes e conen of do slen lms ndudope of cnem ex elepone nd elegm of esemmed monopoly of e posl sysem Snce e begnnng of ecenuy wen e eleconc ube ws developed by von Leben n Ge-mny nd De Foes n Clfon s been possble o mplfy ndnsm sgnls Accodngly e lge med newoks wc ve beenn exsence snce e es ve been ble o fll bck on ll ee so-ge medwng lm nd poogpyo lnk up nd send e

sgnls wllBu ese lnks e seped by ncompble d cnnels nd df-

feng d foms Eleccs does no equl eleconcs Wn e spec-um of e genel d low elevson do cnem nd e poslsevce consue ndvdul nd lmed wndows fo peoples sense pecepons Infed dons o e do ecoes of ppocng msslese sll nsmed oug oe cnnels unlke e opcl be newoks of e fuue Ou med sysems meely dsbue e wods

noses nd mges people cn nsm nd eceve Bu ey do no com-pue ese d ey do no poduce n oupu unde compueconol nsfoms ny lgom no ny nefce effec o e ponwee people ke leve of e senses A s pon e only ng bengcompued s e nsmsson quly of soge med wc ppe ne med lnks s e conen of e med A compomse beween engnees nd slespeople egules ow poo e sound fom V se cn be

ow fuy move mges cn be o ow muc beloved voce on e ele-pone cn be leed Ou sense pecepons e e dependen vbleof s compomse

A compose of fce nd voce emns clm even wen fceddung elevsed debe by n opponen nmed Rcd M Nxon sdeemed elegenc nd my wn pesdenl elecon s n Kennedys


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Introution

cse Voces n opcl coseup woud eve s eceous ow-eve e cled dogenc nd ue ove e VE 01 e Volkepfngerof e Second Wold W Fo s e Hedegge dscple mong Ge-mnys ely do expes eled de s pmly do opc" 2

Bu ese sense pecepons d o e fced s Fo med olnk up nd ceve domnnce we need concdence n e Lcnnsense: someng ceses no o we self Po o e elecconof med nd wel efoe e eleconc end ee wee modes meelymecncl ppuses Une o mpfy o nsm ey neveeesswee e s o soe sensoy d sen moves soed sgs nd Edsons ponogp (wc unke Belnes e gmopone ws cp-

e o of ecodng nd epoducng) soed sounds.On Deceme 6 877 Edson lod of e s esec ooy ne soy of ecnoogy pesened e pooype of e ponogp oe puc On Feuy 0 1 89 e sme n Meno Pk (ne NewYok) dded e soclled kneoscope Tee yes le e Lumeoes n Fnce nd e Skdnowsky oes n Gemny meeyd o dd mens of poecon o un Edson's nvenon no cnem.

Eve snce epocl cnge we ve een n possesson of soge

ecnooges cn ecod nd epoduce e vey me low of couscnd opcl d Es nd eyes ve ecome uonomous. And cnged e se of ey moe n logpy nd poogpywc (ccodng o Benmn's ess) n e s d of e nneeencenuy meey popeled e wok of no e ge of s ecnc e-poducy. Med dene w ely s"; ey e lwys ledy e-yond esecs

W ponogps nd cnemogps wose nmes no conc-

denly deve fom wng wee e o soe ws me: me s mxue of udo fequences n e cousc elm nd s e movemen ofsnglemge sequences n e opcl Tme deemnes e m of l wc s s o es e dy d ow n ode o un no mgeso sgns W s clled syle n s meely e swcod of esescnnngs nd selecons T sme swcod lso conos ose s use wng s sel s empoly nsposed d ow Toecod e sound sequenes of speec leue s o es em n sysem of lees eey cegoclly excludng l nose sequencesNo concdenlly s sysem lso conns s susysem e sevennoes wose doncsfom A o Gom e ss of occden mu-sc Folowng suggeson mde y e muscologs von Honosel spossle o x e cos of exoc musc sslng Euopen es y s


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4 Introuction

o i - - 6 i . " = - + -

= •

• (

.

·

I

*

t (

II

1 0Aba

U'oh

bl

t

ntepoltng ponogp wc s le to ecod ts cos n el tmend ten eply t n slow moton As te ytms egn t g nd ndvdul mesues even ndvdul notes esound on te own" occdent petsm wt ts stffs cn poceed to n exct notton"4

Texts nd scoesEuope d no ote mens of stong tme Bote sed on wtng system wose tme s n Lcn's tem symolcUsng pojectons nd etevs ts tme memozes tselfke cnof cns Neveteless wteve n s tme on pyscl o gn n

Lcns tems) e evel ndly nd unpedctly could y no mens eencoded Teefoe l dt lows povded tey ely wee stems ofdt d to pss toug te otteneck of te sgne Apetc monopoly gmmtology

If te m cled stoy ewnds tself t tuns nto n endess oopWt wll soon end n te monopoly of ts nd e optcs egn wtte monopoy of wtng Hstoy ws te omogenzed eld tt s ncdemc suect ony took ccount of ltete cultues Mouts nd

gpsms wee eegted to pestoy Otewse stoes nd stoesot devng fom hitoria coud not ve een nked All te odesnd judgments nnouncements nd pescptons mty nd legl e-lgous nd medc tt poduced mountns of copses wee commun-cted ong te vey sme cnnel tt monopozed te descptons of


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Introuction

e ldet depitin a pint p 499a a dane deat

ose mounns of copses Wc s wy nyng eve ppenedended up n les

And Foucul e s son o s ceoogs meely d oook ngs up Te suspcon ll powe emnes fom nd eunso cves coud e lny conmed es wn e elms of

lw medcne nd eology A uology of soy o s clvy Fo eles n wc e ceoogs found so muc c mel colecednd clogued ppes d een exemely dvese n ems of ddessee dsuon ecnque degee of sececy nd wng ecnqueFoucu's cve s e enopy of pos ofce5 Even wng self e-oe ends up n les s communcon medum e ecnoogy ofwc e ceoogs smpy fogo I s fo s eson l snlyses end mmedey efoe pon n me wc oe medpeneed e ly's scks Dscouse nlyss cnno e pped osound cves o owes of m olls.

As long s ws mvng long soy ws ndeed Foucu's wveke successon of wods "6 Moe smpy u no less ecncly n o-moow's e opc cles wng funconed s unvesl medum


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Introuction

Telene lines New Yk

n tms wen te ws no concpt of mdm Wteve else ws gongon dopped tog t lt of ltts o deogms.

Ltete" Gote wote s fgmnt of fgmnts; ony tesmlst popoton of wt took plce nd wt ws sd ws wttendown wl only t smllest popoton of wt ws wtten down hssvvd.

Accodngy ol soy tody confonts te stons' wtng mo-

nopoly ccodngy md teoetcn k te Jest pst Wt J.Ong wo mst ve een concned w te spt of t Pentecostmysty cold clet pmy olty of tl cts s opposed tot secondy olty of o med costcs Sc sec emned ntnkle s long s t oppost of stoy" ws smply tmed (gn


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Introuction 7

followng Goete legend" Pestoy was susumed y ts mytcalname; Goete's denton of lteatue dd not even ave to menton optcal o acoustc data lows. And even legends tose oaled segments ofygone events only suvved n wtten fomat tat s unde petecnologcal ut lteay condtons Howeve snce t as ecome possle toecod te epcs of te last Homec ads wo untl ecently wee wan-deng toug Sea and Coata oal mnemotecncs o cultues aveecome econstuctle n a completely dffeent way.9 Even Homesosyngeed Eos canges fom a Goddess nto a pece of comum dox-de tat was stoed n te memoy of te ad and could e comnedwt ote peces nto wole epcs. Pmay oalty" and oal stoy"

came nto exstence only afte te end of te wtng monopoly as tetecnologcal sadows of te appaatuses tat document tem

Wtng oweve stoed wtngno moe and no less Te oly ooksattest to ts. Exodus capte contans a copy of wat Yawe's ownnge ognally ad wtten on two stone talets te law But of tetunde and lgtnng of te tck cloud and te mgty tumpet wcaccodng to scptue suounded ts st act of wtng on Mount

Sna tat same Ble could stoe notng ut mee wods.Even less s anded down of te ngtmaes and temptatons tat af

lcted a nomad called Moammed followng s gt to te oly moun-tan of Ha Te Koan does not egn untl te one God takes te placeof te many demons Te acange Gael descends fom te seventeaven wt a oll of scptue and te command to decpe te scollRejoce n te name of te Lod wo ceatedceated man fom clotsof lood Recte! You Lod s te Most Bountful One wo y pentaugt man wat e dd not know"

Moammed oweve answes tat e te nomad can't ead; noteven te dvne message aout te ogn of eadng and wtng. Teacangel as to epeat s command efoe an llteate can tun nto tefounde of a ookased elgon Fo soon o all too soon te lleglescoll makes sense and pesents to Moammed's maculously alpaeted eyes te vey same tet tat Gael ad aleady utteed twce as an

oal command Moammed's llumnatons egan accodng to tadtonwt ts t suan ode ten to e memoed y te atful andwtten down on pmtve sufaces suc as palm leaves stones woodones and peces of leate and to e ected agan and agan y Mo-ammed and select eleves especally dung Ramadan." 2

Wtng teefoe meely stoes te fact of ts autoaton. It cele


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8 Introdction

baes e soage monopoly of e God wo nvened And snce eeam of s God consss of sgns a only noneades can' make senseof al books ae books of e dead ke e Egypan ones w wc leaue began.3 Te book self concdes w e ealm of e dead beyond a senses no wc lues us. Wen e Soc plosope Zenoasked e oace a Dep ow e soud bes lead s lfe e was gvene answe a e sould mae w e dead He undesood s omean a e sould read e ancient."

Te soy of ow e dvne nsucons o use qulls exended be-yond Moses and Moammed and eaced smple and smpe people s aengy one a nobody can we because woud be soy self In

muc e same way e soage capaces of ou compues wll soon co-ncde w eeconc wafae and ggabye upon ggabye exceed al epocessng capaces of soans.

Sufce o say a one dayn Gemany s may ave aleadybeen e case dung e age of Goeee omogenous medum ofwng also became omogenous n e socal spee Compulsoy edu-caon engulfed peope n pape Tey eaned a way of wng a as anabuse of anguage" (accodng o Goee no longe ad o suggle

w camped musces and ndvdual lees bu ae poceeded n apue o dakness Tey leaned o ead slenly o ones self" a soysubsue fo speec" a consumed ees wou effo by bypassngoa ogans. Waeve ey emed and eceved was wng And be-cause only a exss wc can be posed bodes emselves fel undee egme of e symboc. Wa s unnkabe oday was once eayno m soed e movemens ey made o saw no ponogap enose ey made o ead. Fo waeve exsed faled befoe me. Sl-ouees o pase dawngs xed faca expessons and scoes wee un-abe o soe nose Bu once a and ook old of a pen someng macuous occued: e body wc dd no cease no o we sef efsangely unavodable aces.

Im asamed t tell it Im asamed my andwiting It expses me in allmy spiitual nakedness My andwiting sws me me naked tan I am witmy ltes N leg n beat n ltes n sund Neite ie n ele

tin All leaned ut Instead a wle mans being sieled and missapenlike is sibblesabble His lines ae all tats let im as well as is selppagatin e uneen taings is penil n pape s minimal tat a blindmans ngetips wuld adly detet tem beme te measue te wleellw


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Introdction Today tis same wic overcomes e ero o Boo Srausss last lovestory Dedication weever e sees is adwritig is o more ta aaacroism. Te act ta te miimal ueveess betwee stroke adpaper ca store eiter a voice or a image o a body presupposes i itsexclusio te iveio o poograpy ad ciema. Beore eir iveio owever adwritig aloe could guaratee te perect securig oraces. I wroe ad wrote i a eergetic ad ideally uiterrupted low.As Hegel so correctly observed e alpabeized idividual ad is ap-pearace ad exterality i tis coiuous low o ik or letters.

Ad wa applied to writig also applied to readig. Eve i te alpabeized idividual kow as e autor ally ad o all rom e

private exteriority o adwritig io e aoymous exteriority o priti order to secure all tats le o im as well as is selpropagatioalpabetized idividuals kow as readers were able o reverse tis ex-teriorizaio. I oe reads i e rigt way Novalis wrote e wordswill uold i us a real visible world. 1 Ad is ried Sclegel addedtat oe believes to ear wa oe merely reads. 9 Perect alpabetiza-tio was to supplemet precisely ose optical ad acoustic data lowstat uder e moopoly o writig did ot cease ot to write em

selves. Eort ad bee removed rom wriig ad soud rom readig iorder to auralize writig. Te letters tat educaed readers skimmedover provided people wit sigs ad souds.

Aided by compulsory educatio ad ew alpabetizatio eciqueste book became bo lm ad record aroud 8o as a media-tecological reality but i te imagiary o readers souls. As a surro-gate o ustorable data ows books came to power ad glory.2

177 a editor by te ame o Goete commied adwritte let-ters or Sorrows of Yong Werther to prit. Te ameless rog oquote e dedicatio o Fast) too was to ear a early sog at likesome old aladed sog revived old gries ad old rieds. 21

Tis was te ew literary recipe or success to surreptitiously tur tevoice or adwritig o a soul io Gutebergiaa. I te last letter ewrote ad sealed bu did ot sed o beore committig suicide Wertergave is beloved te very promise o poetry durig er lieime se would

ave o remai wit Alber er uloved usbad but aterwards sewould be uied wit er lover i e sigt o e Iite e i eteralembraces.22 Ideed te addressee o adwrie love leers wicwere te publised by a mere editor was o be rewarded wit a immortality i te sape o te ovel itsel. It aloe was able to create te


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10 Introdction

beautiful ream23 in wic te lovers of Goetes Elective Afnitie ac-cording to te ope of teir narrator, wi waken togeter once more4Strangely enoug, Eduard and ttilie ad one and te same andwritingduring teir lifetime Teir deat elevated tem to a paradise tat underte storage monopoly of writing was caled poetry

And maybe tat paradise was more real tan our mediacontrolledsenses can imagine Reading intenty, Werters suicidal readers may welave perceived teir ero in a real, visible word And te overs amongGoetes female readers, ike Bettina Brentano, may well ave died witte eroine of is Elective Afnitie ony to be reborn in a more beauti-ful yout troug Goetes genius2 Maybe te perfectly alpabetized

readers of 1800 were a living answer to te question wit wic CrisMarker concudes is lm essay San Soleil

t at t nd t wld n my iand Sal in t cmany my dg tutting aund mmb tat Januay in ky at I mmb t imagI md in ky in Januay y a nw ut tml in lac my mmy ty are my mmy I wnd w l w d nt lm tak t cd ta mmb w umankind ud t g abut mmbing

It is te same wit language, wic only leaves us te coice of eiterretaining words wile losing teir meaning or, vice versa, retaining mean-ing wie osing te words nce storage media can accommodate opti-cal and acoustic data, uman memory capacity is bound to dwindle Itsliberation2 is its end As long as te book was responsible for al serialdata lows, words quivered wit sensuality and memory It was te passionof al reading to allucinate meaning between ines and etters te visibleand audible world of Romantic poetics And te passion of all writing was

in te words of E T A Hoffmann te poets desire to describe te alucinated picture in ones mind wit al its vivid coors, te igt and tesade, in order to strike [te] gentle reader ike an eectric sock29

Electricity itself put an end to tis nce memories and dreams, te deadand gosts, become tecnically reproducible, readers and writers nolonger need te powers of allucination ur realm of te dead as wit-drawn from te books in wic it resided for so long As Diodor of Sicily

once wrote, it is no onger only troug writing tat te dead remain inte memory of te living

Te writer Bazac was already overcome by fear wen faced witpotograpy, as e confessed to Nadar, te great pioneer of potograpyIf (according to Bazac) te uman body consists of many innitey tin


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Siit tgay, 19.

Introdction I I

lyers specters d i te um spirit ct be creted rm t-igess te te dguerretype must be siister trick it xes tt isstels e lyer ter te ter util tig remis te specters dte ptgrped bdy3 Pt lbums estblis relm te ded i-itely mre precise t Blzcs cmpetig literry eterprise te Comdie hmaine culd ever pe t crete I ctrst t te rts medi

d t ve t mke d wit te grid te symblic Tt is t sy teyrecstruct bdies t ly i system wrds r clrs r sud itervls. Medi d medi ly ulll te ig stdrds tt ccrd-ig t Rudl Areim we expect rm reprductis sice te ive-ti ptgrpy Tey re t ly suppsed t resemble te bject


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2 Introducton

but rater guaratee tis resemblace by beig, as it were, a product ote obect i questio, tat is, by beig mecaicaly produced by itustas te illumiated obects o reality imprit teir image o te potograpic ayer,31 or te requecy curves o oises iscribe teir wavelike

sapes oto te poograpic pate.A reproductio auteticated by te obect itse is oe o pysical

precisio It reers to te bodily rea, wic o ecessity escapes all sym-boic grids Media always already provide te appearaces o specters.For, accordig to Laca, eve te word corpse is a eupemism i re-erece to te real. 32

Accordigy, te ivetio o te Morse alpabet i 837 wasprompty olowed by te tappig specters o spiritistic seaces sedigteir messages rom te realm o te dead. Promptly as well, potograpic plateseve ad especialy tose take wit te camera sutterclosedurised reproductios o gosts or specters, wose backad-wite uzziess oy served to uderscore te promise o resemblace. Fialy, oe o te te applicatios Ediso evisioed or is ewy ivetedpoograp i te North Amercan Revew 878) was to record teast words o dyig persos.

It was oly a smal step rom suc a amily record,33 wit its special cosideratio o reveats, to atasies tat ad telepoe cablesikig te livig ad te dead Wat Leopold Boom i Ulysses coudoly is or i is Dubi graveyard meditatios ad aready beetured ito sciece ctio by Walter Rateau, te AEG cairma o teboard ad uturist writer34 I Rateau's story Resurrectio Co., tecemetery admiistratio o Necropois, Dacota/USA, ollowig a serieso scadaous premature burials i 898 ouds a daugter compay e-

tited Dacota ad Cetral Resurrectio Telepoe Bell Co wit a capital stock o $750000 Its sole purpose is to make certai tat te iab-itats o graves, too, are coected to te public telepoe etworkWereupo te dead avail temseves o te opportuity to prove, ogbeore McLua, tat te cotet o oe medium is always aoter me-diumi tis cocrete case, a dformaton professonelle

Tese days, paraorma voices o tape or radio, te likes o wicave bee spiritisticaly researced sice 959 ad preserved i rock mu-

sic sice Laurie Adersos 982 release Bg Scence iorm teir re-searcers o teir preerred radio waveegt. Tis already occurredi 898 i te case o Seate Presidet Screber we a paraormal,beautiully autoomous base or erve aguage revealed its code aswel as its caels,3 message ad cae became oe You ust ave to


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Introducton

coose a middle, sort, or logwave talksow statio, or te witeoise betwee two statios, or te Jrgeso wave,' wic, deedigo were you are, is located aroud 0 to 00 kHz betwee Vieaad Moscow. 3 If you relay a tae tat as bee recorded off te radio,you will ear all kids of gost voices tat do ot origiate from aykow radio statio, but tat, like all ofcial ewscasters, idulge i ra-dio selfadvertisemet. Ideed, te locatio ad existece of tat Jr-geso wave was ioited by oe oter ta Friedric Jrgeso,te Nestor of vocal researc39

Te realm of te dead is as extesive as te storage ad trasmissiocaabilities of a give culture. As Klaus Teweleit oted, media are al-

ways ligt aaratuses ito te great beyod. If gravestoes stood assymbols at te begiig of culture itself, our media tecology ca retrieve all gods Te old writte lamets about eemerality, wic mea-sured o more ta distace betwee writig ad sesuality, suddely fallsilet. I our mediascae, immortals ave come to exist agai

War on the Mnd is te title of a accout of te sycological strate-gies atced by te Petago. It reorts tat te staffs laig te electroic war, wic merely cotiues te Battle of te Atlatic,4 ave

already comiled a list of te roitious ad uroitious days i otercultures. Tis list eables te Air Force to time its bombig camaigs to coicide wit uroitious days, tus cormig te forecastsof local gods. As well, te voices of tese gods ave bee recorded otae to be broadcast from elicoters to kee tribes i teir villages.Ad ally, te Petago as develoed secial lm roectors caable ofroectig tose gods oto lowagig clouds.4 A tecologically im-lemeted beyod . . .

f course te Petago does ot kee a adwritte list of good ad baddays. fce tecology kees u wit media tecology Ciema ad teoogra, Edisos two great acievemets tat usered i te reset,are comlemeted by te tyewriter. Sice 8 (accordig to Euroeaaccouts) or 8 8 (accordig to America oes), writig as o logerbee te ik or ecil trace of a body wose otical ad acoustic sigals

were irretrievably lost, oly to reaear (i readers' mids i te surrogate sesuality of adwritig. I order to store series of sigts adsouds, ld Euroe's oly storage tecology rst ad to be mecaized.Has Magus Mallig Hase i Coeage ad Cristoer LatamSoles i Milwaukee develoed massroducible tyewriters. Ediso com-meted ositively o te ivetios otetial we Soles visited im i


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4 Intoducton

Newark to demostrate is ewy pateed model ad o ivite te mawo ad iveed iveio to eter a joi veure.42

But Ediso declied te offeras if already i 8 8, e poo-grap ad kieoscope preoccupied teir fuure iveor. Istead te of

fer was grabbed by a arms maufacturer sufferig from dwidlig reveues i te postCivil War slump. Remigto ot Ediso took overSoless discourse macie gu.

Tus ere was o Marvelous e from wose brow sprag al t

kittler friedrich gramophone film typewriter

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