[Commlist] New Book: Political Perversion

Book Announcement: /Political Perversion/ by Joshua Gunn, University of 
Texas at Austin.

https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/P/bo51204562.html

When Trump became president, much of the country was repelled by what 
they saw as the vulgar spectacle of his ascent, a perversion of the 
highest office in the land. In his bold, innovative book, /Political 
Perversion/, rhetorician Joshua Gunn argues that this “mean-spirited 
turn” in American politics (of which Trump is the paragon) is best 
understood as a structural perversion in our common culture, on a 
continuum with infantile and “gotcha” forms of entertainment meant to 
engender provocation and sadistic enjoyment.

Drawing on insights from critical theory, media ecology, and 
psychoanalysis, Gunn argues that perverse rhetorics dominate not only 
the political sphere but also our daily interactions with others, in 
person and online. From sexting to campaign rhetoric, Gunn advances a 
new way to interpret our contemporary political context that explains 
why so many of us have difficulty deciphering the appeal of aberrant 
public figures. In this book, Trump is only the tip of a sinister, 
rapidly growing iceberg, one to which we ourselves unwittingly 
contribute on a daily basis.

"The problem Gunn takes up here is the current status of political 
discourse in the time of the Trump presidency. In my opinion, no 
rhetorical problem could be more significant to examine for the future 
of what we might become as a nation. It is both timely and timeless." 
--Thomas S. Frentz, /University of Arkansas/

  “Gunn finds new legibility in the structures of perversion and 
psychosis that are washing and watching over the polis. These structures 
rely on and belie the pathogenic wish for fame or timeliness in our 
critical predicament with contemporaneity. America today is about 
playing catch-up, but with real blood.”
--Laurence A. Rickels, author of /The Vampire Lectures/

Questions can be addressed to: josh_gunn@austin.utexas 
<mailto:josh_gunn@austin.utexas>.edu

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