Waste

153 Pages·2017·1.118 MB·English

by  Brian Thill

A book series about the hidden lives of ordinary things.
Series Editors:
Ian Bogost and Christopher Schaberg
Advisory Board:
Sara Ahmed, Jane Bennett, Johanna Drucker, Raiford Guins,
Graham Harman, renée hoogland, Pam Houston, Eileen
Joy, Douglas Kahn, Daniel Miller, Esther Milne, Timothy
Morton, Nigel Thrift, Kathleen Stewart, Rob Walker,
Michele White.
In association with
Books in the series
Remote Control by Caetlin Benson-Allott
Golf Ball by Harry Brown
Driver’s License by Meredith Castile
Drone by Adam Rothstein
Silence by John Biguenet
Glass by John Garrison
Phone Booth by Ariana Kelly
Refrigerator by Jonathan Rees
Waste by Brian Thill
Hotel by Joanna Walsh
Tree by Matthew Battles (forthcoming)
Hood by Alison Kinney (forthcoming)
Dust by Michael Marder (forthcoming)
Shipping Container by Craig Martin (forthcoming)
Doorknob by Thomas Mical (forthcoming)
Cigarette Lighter by Jack Pendarvis (forthcoming)
Bookshelf by Lydia Pyne (forthcoming)
Bread by Scott Cutler Shershow (forthcoming)
Hair by Scott Lowe (forthcoming)
Blanket by Kara Thompson (forthcoming)
waste
Brian Thill
Bloomsbury Academic
An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Inc
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Bloomsbury Academic
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BLOOMSBURY and the Diana logo are trademarks
of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
First published 2015
© Brian Thill, 2015
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval
system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers.
No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organization acting on
or refraining from action as a result of the material in this publication
can be accepted by Bloomsbury or the author.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Thill, Brian.
Waste/Brian Thill.
pages cm – (Object lessons)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-62892-436-7 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Refuse and refuse disposal–
Philosophy. 2. Refuse and refuse disposal–Moral and ethical aspects. 3. Personal
belongings–Psychological aspects. 4. Waste (Economics) I. Title.
TD791.T45 2015
363.7–dc23
2015013080
ISBN: PB: 978-1-6289-2436-7
ePub: 978-1-6289-2438-1
ePDF: 978-1-6289-2439-8
Series: Object Lessons
Typeset by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India
To Olivia, always
We are not in the least afraid of ruins.
Buenaventura Durruti
One must work with the trash, pit it against itself.
PhiliP K. DicK,
in a letter to StaniSlaw lem
I’m an optimist, I think. But there it is, rotting.
eileen myleS
vi
Contents
1 The beach that speaks 1
2 Trash familiars/Tabflab 19
3 Pigs in space 37
4 Million-year panic 53
5 Ruinism 71
6 Splinter, shard, and stone 85
7 Where the hoard is 97
8 Lake Carbamazepine 113
Acknowledgments 115
List of Illustrations 119
Bibliography 123
Index 129
viii
1 the BeaCh
that speaks
In Paul Valéry’s Eupalinos; or The Architect, Socrates is
walking alone on the beach. He stumbles upon an obscure
object, polished and white. He can’t figure out what it is or
where it came from. As he later tells Phaedrus, the seashore
is a special kind of wasteland, a place of derelict things, a
gathering-zone for all the detritus of a great and eternal
struggle:
This frontier between Neptune and Earth, ever disputed by
those rival divinities, is the scene of the most dismal and
most incessant commerce. That which the sea rejects, that
which the land cannot retain, the enigmatic bits of drift;
the hideous limbs of dislocated ships, black as charcoal,
and looking as though charred by the salt tempests
from the transparent pasture-grounds of Proteus’ flocks;
collapsed monsters, of cold deathly hues; all the things,
in short, that fortune delivers over to the fury of the