Carl Schmitt and The Buribunks: Technology, Law, Literature

A young Carl Schmitt published a satirical fiction entitled "The Buribunks" in 1918, which imagined a future society of beings who consistently wrote and disseminated their personal diaries. This volume includes the first full translation into English of "The Buribunks" and a selection of critical essays on the text, its meanings in the digital present, its playing with and criticism of the literary form, and its place within Schmitt's life and work. The essays provide a complex, critical, and provocative invitation to reimagine the relations between the human and their imprint and legacy within archives and repositories. It challenges a broad range of disciplines to reflect on the digital present and its assembled and curated beings and provides a set of fantastically located concepts, images, and histories that traverse ideas and practices, play and politics, power and possibility.

Format: Hardback
Length: 364 pages
Publication date: 07 April 2022
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

In 1918, a young Carl Schmitt released a satirical fiction titled "The Buribunks," which depicted a future society of beings who relentlessly documented and shared their personal diaries. Schmitt, renowned for his philosophy of the exception and his role as the "Crown Jurist of the Third Reich," became a prominent figure in the field of political philosophy. However, "The Buribunks," despite its ironic portrayal of self-centered individuals, has largely been forgotten in the annals of history. Nevertheless, in the digital age, where the emphasis is on the informational traces left behind by human actions and the ongoing fascination with Schmitt's work to interpret and critique contemporary power structures, "The Buribunks" emerges as a text whose time has come.

This comprehensive volume presents the first complete English translation of "The Buribunks" alongside a collection of critical essays that explore its significance in the digital present, its playful manipulation of literary form, and its place within Schmitt's life and oeuvre. The essays offer a multifaceted, critical, and thought-provoking exploration of the complex relationships between humans and their imprint and legacy within archives and repositories. They delve into the fundamental question of what it means to be a being acutely aware of the act of writing itself.

"The Buribunks" and the accompanying essays extend an invitation to reimagine. It challenges a wide range of disciplines, from philosophy to critical data studies, to reflect on the digital present and the assembled and curated beings that inhabit it. It provides a rich tapestry of concepts, images, and histories that traverse ideas, practices, play, politics, power, and possibility. This volume is not limited to critical lawyers, literary scholars, and Schmitt enthusiasts. It appeals to a broad audience, inviting individuals from diverse fields to engage with the digital present and its implications. It offers a set of conceptually rich and imaginatively situated ideas, images, and histories that traverse the boundaries between ideas, practices, play, politics, power, and potentiality.

In conclusion, "The Buribunks" and the critical essays included in this volume offer a profound and provocative exploration of the human-archive relationship in the digital age. They challenge us to reimagine our understanding of the self, the past, and the possibilities of the future. By engaging with the text and its critical commentary, we can gain a deeper appreciation of the complexities and contradictions of our digital present and its implications for our collective future.

Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780367548872