Saturday, April 15, 2023

Cyclonopedia by Reza Negarestani

 


I had a chat about Cyclonopedia with ChatGPT. We agree on a lot of things. It's a difficult but fascinating book:

The book is an ambitious attempt to use philosophy and literature to challenge conventional wisdom about the role of oil in contemporary society and to offer a new way of understanding the relationship between politics, economy, and the environment.

To fully understand the philosophical ideas presented in "Cyclonopedia," some background in continental philosophy, particularly the works of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, may be helpful. However, one can still engage with the book's ideas without a deep knowledge of philosophy, as long as they are willing to approach the text with an open mind and a willingness to grapple with complex ideas.

There are at least three layers of narrative in "Cyclonopedia." The first layer involves the narrator's search for the writings of the archaeologist, which serves as the overarching framework for the book. The second layer is the narrative of the archaeologist himself and his research on the connections between oil, culture, and history. And the third layer is the presentation of the archaeologist's ideas, which are interspersed throughout the book in the form of theoretical reflections, philosophical speculations, and allegorical fictions.

In addition to these three layers, there are also other narrative threads that run throughout the book, including the themes of horror and science fiction, the use of metaphor and allegory, and the exploration of Middle Eastern politics and culture. These threads are intertwined with the main layers of the narrative, adding depth and complexity to the book's overall structure.

The book presents a vision of the Middle East as a place where the lines between the past and the present, the natural and the supernatural, and the human and the non-human are blurred. The author argues that this "haunting" is not simply a metaphor, but is a real and tangible phenomenon that has shaped the region's history and politics.

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