Laurence Rickel's

 

“In Rickels’s work, as, for instance, in Lars von Trier’s films, misery is not a problem to be resolved and overcome, but the foundation for future insights, a setting in which new and difficult material will be revealed in a dialectic that often includes disaster." - Artforum

In I Think I Am: Philip K. Dick, Laurence A. Rickels investigated the renowned science fiction author's collected work by way of its relationship to the concept and condition of schizophrenia. In his new book, Germany: A Science Fiction, he focuses on psychopathy as the undeclared diagnosis implied in flunking the empathy test. The switch from psychosis to psychopathy as an organizing limit opens the prospect of a genealogy of the Cold War era, which Rickels begins by examining Dick's The Simulacra and follows out with readings of Simulacron 3, Fahrenheit 451, The Day of the Triffids, This Island Earth and Gravity’s Rainbow, among many other genealogical stations.

Laurence A. Rickels is emeritus professor of German and comparative literature at the University of California-Santa Barbara. Currently he is Professor of Art and Theory at the Academy of Fine Arts-Karlsruhe as well as Sigmund Freud Professor of Media and Philosophy at the European Graduate School. Visit Rickels online at: LARickels.com

Q & A with the author and reception/ book signing following

 

Villa Aurora, 520 Paseo Miramar, Los Angeles, CA 90272
This event is free of charge. RSVP is required.
Please write an email to infola@villa-aurora.org or call +1 310.454-4231

Street Parking is available on Los Liones Drive. Shuttle service starts at 5 pm from Los Liones Drive, off Sunset Boulevard two blocks North East of Pacific Coast Highway. Please do not park on the Topanga State Park Lot!