CYCLONOPEDIA: COMPLICITY WITH ANONYMOUS MATERIALS - REZA NEGARESTANI

Typically, I try to balance the fiction and non-fiction I read, trying to have at least one of each on the docket at all times.I knew this book is often called theory-fiction or even sci-fi so I decided to slot it in as my fiction choice after reading 1996. That, however, is not the right way to think about this book, this is a very speculative and far-out work of theory with a bit of fictional flourish around the edges. The fictional framing part can be summed up quickly: it involves someone trying to track down a vanished academic named Dr. Hamid Parsani, who we learn might not even exist in the traditional sense before his manuscript mysteriously appears in an Istanbul hotel room. Most of the rest of the book is his incomplete and frenzied theoretical writings. In that sense the book is similar to Spinal Catastrophism, in that long portions of it claim to be the academic writings of a fictional entity. I will hand it to Negarestani tho, the philosophy of Parsani is very far-out and heady. He circles around a number of big ideas, many of which involve thinking about the Middle East itself, and especially Oil, as sentient and malevolent beings that are twisting history to their own ends. Here’s one example of how he talks about oil, ”recall, however, that they spoke always of a buried terrestrial sun which must be exhumed, a rotting sun oozing black flame, the black corpse of the sun.” I found all of that stuff very useful and persuasive as a way to think about contemporary middle MENA politics. In classic theory fashion, he spins out and speculates on monotheism and Islam and modern warfare and all sorts of related topics. Lots of talk of Moloch and the dark nihilistic forces behind the war on terror. It’s amazing that he wrote this thing before the rise of ISIS. Here’s two more quotes that I really enjoyed; “all modes of urban warfare are monotheistic rituals,” and,“the future of warfare lies in the hands of rogue units,” to give you a taste of what he’s up to. He’s connected somehow to the CCRU folks so there is the requisite talk of Lovecraft and large menacing Lovecraftian horrors beyond human comprehension. Long stretches would get boring or confusing but he jumps around enough and writes in such a declarative and exciting way that I remained hooked. I would have preferred more of the fictional elements, this seemed like a theory book that has fictitious elements, very much like Spinal Catastrophism, but overall it was engaging. I will continue to think of oil as a malevolent pre-islamic demon. 2014 oil demons.