First & Last Emperors: The Absolute State and the Body of the Despot

210 Pages·1992·2.851 MB·English

by  Kenneth Dean, Brian Massumi

F I R S T & L A S T
E M P E R O R S
THE ABSOLUTE STATE AND THE BODY OF THE DESPOT
KENNETH DEAN & BRIAN MASSUMI

jANO Last EMPERORS
AUTONOMEDIA NEW AUTONOMY SERIES
Jim Fleming & Peter Lamborn Wilson, Editors
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F & L
irst a st
E
m pe r o r s
The Absolute State and the Body of the Despot
K e n n e th D e a n
& BRIAN ^MASSUMI
Autonomedia
Anti-copyright 1992 Autonomedia,
Kenneth Dean & Brian Massumi
This book may be freely pirated and quoted.
However, please inform the authors and publisher
at the address below.
Autonomedia
POB 568 William sburgh Station
Brooklyn, NY 11211-0568 USA
718-387-6471
Printed in the United States of America.
CONTENTS
1 Introduction.......................................................7
2 Th e E lim ination of Strength
Absolutism, the Body of the Despot,
and the Rise of the Chinese Empire..................... 11
3 Postmortem on the Presid ential B ody
or, Where the Rest of Him Went........................87
4 F irst and Last E m perors
Conclusion...................................................... 153
Notes..................................................................169
Bibliography.................................................... 195
Illustrations.........................................................205
1
Introduction
7
Introduction
They come like fate, without reason, consideration,
or pretext; they appear as lightning appears, too
terrible, too sudden, too convincing, too 'different'
even to be hated. Their work is an instinctive cre­
ation and imposition of forms ... That is after all
how the 'state' began on earth.
-Friedrich Nietesche
What, do you imagine that I would take so much
trouble and so much pleasure in writing if I were
not preparing a labyrinth into which I can venture,
in which I can move my discourse, opening up
underground passages, forcing it to go far from
itself, finding overhangs that reduce and deform its
itinerary, in which I can lose myself and appear at
last to eyes that I will never have to meet again. I
^ no doubt not the only one who writes in order
to have no face. Do not ask me who I and do
not ask me to remain the same: leave it to our
bureaucrats and our police to see that our papers
^ in order.
-Michel Foucault
8
Introduction
From blinding light
to disappearance
from the irruption of the State
to the effacem ent of its subject.
W e return to late-capitalist Am erica
by w ay of ancient C hina
follow ing the self-dispersing body of the
Despot.
O u r face
w hich w e cannot countenance
is his.
A fter all.
Leave it to the bureaucrats.
A history of the present
for a leaderless future
these eyes w ill never see.
D o not ask us to rem ain the same.
9