Main entry:

Kafka, Ben.

Title & Author:

The demon of writing : powers and failures of paperwork / Ben Kafka.

Publication:

New York : Zone Books, ©2012.

Description:

182 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 155-177) and index.
Introduction : The psychic life of paperwork -- I. The disciplined state : The National Assembly doesn't give a damn ; Shareholders in the great social enterprise ; The disciplined state ; A stranger to everything happening -- II. The demon of writing : The demon of writing ; The physical impossibility of doing otherwise ; Tiresome details, barbarous concision ; As simple as it was bizarre ; Matter, form, and power -- III. The state of want : Writing and indifference ; Women and white paper ; Is Tocqueville kidding? ; A bitter joke -- IV. The bureaucratic medium : The case of Inspector von Zuccalmaglio ; Smashing ; Mistakes are made ; Withdrawal slip ; From the desk of Roland Barthes -- g Conclusion : The wish-utensil.

Summary:

Ben Kafka offers a critical history and theory of one of the most ubiquitous, least understood forms of media: paperwork.

ISBN:

9781935408260 (alk. paper)
1935408267 (alk. paper)

Subject:

Public records History.
Government paperwork History.
Archives publiques Histoire.
Écritures administratives Histoire.
Government paperwork.
Public records.
Amtliche Publikation
Öffentlicher Dienst
Paperwork (Office practice)

Form/genre:

History.

Holdings:

Location: Library main 280390
Call No.: BIB 217091
Status: Available