Jean Baudrillard the defence of the real

191 Pages·1999·8.483 MB·English

by  Rex Butler

Jean Baudrillard
Core Cultural Theorists
Core Cultural Theorists is the first book series in cultural theory
to be aimed at the interests and needs of Cultural Studies
students. It aims to give concise, critically informed guides to the
seminal thinkers in the study of culture.
Jean Baudrillard

The Defence of the Real
Rex Butler
SAGE Publications
London · Thousand Oaks · New Delhi
With thanks to Nicholas Zurbrugg
© Rex Butler 1999
First published 1999
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
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Contents

Abbreviations vii

Introduction: Reading Baudrillard in His Own Terms 1

1 Simulation 23

2 Seduction 71

3 Doubling 119

Conclusion: Judging Baudrillard in His Own Terms 161

References 173

Subject Index 177

Name Index 179

Abbreviations

The following texts of Baudrillard are indicated by initials. The
existing English translations have been used wherever possible,
although they have occasionally been modified. Where no
English version exists, we have translated it ourselves. In these
cases, both here and in the References, we have included the
original French title after our English equivalent.
'BE' 'The Beaubourg Effect: Implosion and Dissuasion',
October 20, 1982: 1-13
BL Baudrillard Live: Selected Interviews, ed. Mike
Gane (London: Routiedge, 1993)
CM I Cool Memories I (London: Verso, 1990)
CM II Cool Memories II (Paris: Galilee, 1990)
CS Consumer Society [La sociιtι de consummation]
(Paris: Denoιl, 1970)
EC The Ecstasy of Communication (New York: Semio­
text(e), 1988)
ED The Evil Demon of Images (Sydney: Power Publish­
ing, 1988)
'FF' 'Forget Foucault' ['Oublier Foucault'] in Theoretical
Strategies (Sydney: Local Consumption Publications,
1982): 188-214
viii Jean Baudrillard
'FM' 'Please Follow Me', Art & Text 23/4, 1987: 103-12
FS Fatal Strategies (New York: Semiotext(e), 1990)
IE The Illusion of the End (Cambridge: Polity Press,
1994)
MP The Mirror of Production (St Louis, MO: Telos,
1975)
'OS' "The Orders of Simulacra', in Simulations (New
York: Semiotext(e), 1983): 81-159
PC The Perfect Crime (London: Verso, 1996)
PE For a Critique of the Political Economy of the Sign
(St Louis, MO: Telos, 1981)
'PS' The Precession of Simulacra', in Simulations (New
York: Semiotext(e), 1983): 1-79
5 Seduction (Montreal: New World Perspectives, 1990)
S and S Simulacra and Simulation [Simulacres et simula­
tion] (Paris: Galilee, 1981)
SE Symbolic Exchange and Death (London: Sage
Publications, 1993)
SO The System of Objects (London: Verso, 1996)
SSM In the Shadow of the Silent Majorities (New York:
Semiotext(e), 1983)
TE The Transparency of Evil: Essays on Extreme
Phenomena (London: Verso, 1993)
'2000' The Year 2000 Will Not Take Place', in E.A. Grosz,
T. Threadgold, D. Kelly, A. Cholodenko and E.
Colless (eds), Futur*Fall: Excursions into Post-
modernity (Sydney: Power Publishing, 1986): 18-28
Introduction:

Reading Baudrillard in

His Own Terms

One of the world's major thinkers sits at a desk on stage in a
casino some thirty miles south of Las Vegas. After being
introduced to the audience, he waits for the applause to die
down then leans over into the microphone and begins to read.
He is there as part of a giant New Age festival entitled Chance:
Three Days in the Desert, described as a 'rave and summit
meeting between artists and philosophers, chaosophists and
croupiers, mathematicians and musicians' (Hultkrans 1997: 21).
About sixty-five years old, he is short, stocky, bespectacled,
balding. A commentator at the event will even wonder, with his
'diminutive height, wine-and-cheese paunch, nose and self-rolled
cigarettes', 'is there anyone more French than this man?' (1997:
22) Over the sound of slot machines being played and the
occasional jackpot being won, the disparate group of listeners
strains to catch what he is saying through his heavily accented
English. 'Chaos' sounds like 'cows', 'bodies' like 'birdies'. Later
in the evening, he will return to recite one of his poems, 'Motel
Suicide', backed by a rock band and wearing a gold lame suit.
Despite complaining about the 'criminally pretentious' nature of